Algonquin, Cary firefighters help stranded construction worker

Algonquin and Cary tag-teamed on a rescue Monday when a construction worker was injured and stranded atop a luxury condominium building going up at Route 62 and Harrison Street in Algonquin, authorities said.

At 10:40 a.m., Algonquin firefighters were summoned to the scene after the worker ran into something sharp on top of the second floor and pierced his calf with a cut so deep he couldn't leave the building on his own, said Capt. John Knebl of the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District.

At that point, Algonquin firefighters called the Cary Fire Protection District, which responded with a 100-foot aerial truck ladder and attached basket that travels up and down the ladder, Knebl said.

Within 15 minutes, rescue workers had removed the man from the building and placed him in a waiting ambulance bound for Elgin's Sherman Hospital, Knebl said. Police blocked Harrison Street for 20 minutes while the rescue occurred, said Deputy Chief Steve Kuzynowski. Algonquin right now has a similar ladder, but it stretches only 75 feet, doesn't have a basket and is 14 years old, Knebl said.

"We could have used it, but Cary Fire District's was a little easier to perform the rescue with," he said.

The building will eventually be four stories called Riverside Square, and will include 54 residential units starting at $350,000 and 12,000 feet of retail space on the ground floor, said Algonquin Senior Planner Ben Mason.

Construction on the 50-foot building began last summer, he said.

Meanwhile, Algonquin's fire district hopes to secure a ladder just like Cary's within the next three years, Knebl said.

The cost? $1 million, he said.

"That's why we don't have a new one yet," Knebl said.