Girl Coaxed Down From Catwalk

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31385, 2 June 1967, Page 3

Girl Coaxed Down From Catwalk

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 1. A 17-year-old girl was coaxed down from a 60ft high catwalk on a Devonport gasometer by two firemen and a police constable this morning.

At first the girl resisted attempts to reach her by climbing higher up the gasometer, but after Third Officer T. Howarth and Fireman J. Moore, of the Takapuna Fire Brigade, and Constable M. Kenny chatted with her she agreed to come down.

The brigade arrived soon after 8 a.m. and found a pair of shoes, an airline bag and an umbrella neatly piled at the foot of the gasometer. Forty feet above them, clutching the damp metal and shivering with cold, was their owner.

Firemen stretched safety nets at the base of the gasometer while two firemen scaled a ladder to reach the girl. Third Officer Howarth said: “As soon as we started up the girl moved even higher. When we arrived she was about 40ft from the ground, but she climbed another 20ft. “Apparently she had been there since about 7.30. When I got near her I could see she was trembling with the cold. I was afraid she would lose her grip and fall.” The officer chatted to the girl. He asked her what the trouble was and “acted naturallv.” he said later. They were joined by Constable Kenny. Firemen started to scale the ladder with ropes

to lower the girl If necessary, but the girl agreed to climb down. Above her was Fireman Moore while Third Officer Howarth led the way down, cradling her with his arms in case she slipped. She was taken to a police patrol car and then to the Devonport police station. She had been seen by two schoolgirls, who told the gas station foreman who telephoned the police. The girl, who was staying on the North Shore will go back to her foster parents in Hamilton.