The route to safety isn't always an easy one.
After a man fell off a ladder on a roof of a five-story building while hanging a banner Thursday, Southfield firefighters had to come up with a plan to get him back on the ground, Fox2 reported.
"I've trained for 16 years for it, but it's the first time I've been on duty when we've had one," said Lt. Zach McKee told a reporter. "Every day is different."
"There wasn't a door for us to go into to go down the elevator. There was a door going out, a ladder going up, had to walk across the top roof to another ladder going down," firefighter Nate Herr said.
So, firefighters secured him in a Stokes basket and rappelled him down.
"I was just trying to keep him joking a little bit and keep him relaxed. Made fun of his Lakers hat for a minute, told him this was Pistons country," McKee said.
The man was taken to a hospital and will be OK.
