Firefighter Matt Beatty and an injured construction worker are lifted to safety by a crane out of a 30-foot hole on the Upper West Side in which the worker fell.
The rescue at Amsterdam Avenue and 76th Street took place shortly before noon.
Lt. Tony Tarabocchia, of FDNY Rescue 1, said the pit was too dangerous for firefighters to climb down unaided.
“The way down into the crater itself was very precarious,” he said.
Instead, Beatty hooked himself and a backboard to the crane ball to be lowered down.
The worker was taken to St Luke’s Hospital with a broken leg.