HUDSON — Working in a bucket lifted above the ground by a hydraulic boom has its dangers even in relatively safe conditions. But if a fire starts in the truck while a worker is hoisted aloft — and the mechanism locks so he can’t descend — things could get really bad, and fast.
Somebody get George Phillips.

“Doing a little driver orientation today, when we saw a little smoke,” Ms. Darby, a member of Rescue Fire Company, posted on social media. “Drove a little farther and saw flames. Got out of the vehicle to see a Verizon truck on fire with the operator of the truck in the bucket unable to get out as the flames had started to burn the hoses. An exempt member of RFC [Mr. Phillips] saw the same thing we did and grabbed a ladder from his truck, putting it to the bucket and helping the guy escape before the fire department arrived.”
The incident occurred June 23 at 2033 Hudson Road, about a mile west of Cambridge. The Neck District Volunteer Fire Company was alerted at 3:18 p.m. for a vehicle fire with entrapment, as was Cambridge Rescue Fire Company.

Vehicles from the two fire companies attacked the blaze, while crews from Brookview-Eldorado and Dorchester County Emergency Services arrived with ambulances. No injuries were reported.
“The officers and members of Rescue Fire Company, Inc. would like to thank RFC Exempt Member George Phillips for his fast thinking and rescue of the Verizon guy stuck in the bucket of his truck on fire,” a statement from the company said.

Ms. Darby wrote, “Kudos to George Phillips for his fast thinking. There was another guy who helped with the rescue but I didn’t catch his name if anyone knows who it was, please thank him as well!”