East Texas fire official details rescue of 2 hot air balloonists stuck on radio tower 1,000 feet up

Published 6:00 am Monday, March 2, 2026

Longview firefighters made what is likely the tallest rescue in department history Saturday when they saved two hot air balloonists who struck a radio tower and were trapped almost 1,000 feet in the air.

Firefighters responded at 8:13 a.m. to the tower at FM 1844 and Texas 300 in northern Gregg County after a report that a hot air balloon had struck the tower and was hanging, said Longview Fire Marshal Marcus Delaney. 

Members of the Longview department’s Technical Rescue Team began climbing the tower at 8:51 a.m. and made contact with the people inside the basket – one male and one female – at 10 a.m., Delaney said. 

Firefighters tied the balloon basket to the tower at 10:29 a.m., and by 10:58 a.m., both people in the balloon basket were secured inside the tower. They were then lowered, and by 12:47 p.m., both were on the ground and taken to hospitals as a precautionary measure, Delaney said. Both were in stable condition as of Saturday afternoon. 

Lt. Stephen Winchell with the Special Operations Team said firefighting units from across Longview responded to the scene as well as off-duty firefighters.

“This is not an everyday rescue,” Winchell said. “It takes a lot of manpower, work and teamwork to make this happen.” 

Fourteen firefighters were stationed at various places throughout the tower. Firefighters used ropes during the rescue, but the ropes are limited to 200 or 300 feet each, Winchell said. 

“We had to not only get up, extricate the (people) out of the basket of the balloon into the tower, but then hand them off rope by rope down the multiple pitches or sections down the tower,” he said. 

Firefighters had no other way up the tower but to climb. They used lanyards to clip themselves to the tower as they climbed up.

“Ultimately, it came down to a lot of people just putting a lot of sweat equity and their fitness and training to work, climbing this tower,” Winchell said. 

Three firefighters at the top of the tower secured the balloon basket to the tower and passed ropes and harnesses to the people in the basket. The pair put the harnesses on themselves with firefighters’ instructions and attached themselves to a high-point anchor. The two people basically swung over to the tower in a controlled manner. Once they were secured, they were lowered down. 

“It was a pretty smooth operation – as much as it can be with all the challenges here,” Winchell said. “Super thankful that, in a moment like this, a lot of things coming together.”

Firefighters have taken ropes training for two decades.

“I know the other guys climbing with me are thankful to the Lord for the safety He gave us,” Winchell said. “This weather could not have been much better. It is very physically taxing to climb this.”

He said the situation had a good outcome but could have been a tragic event. 

The wind was not a problem for firefighters, but it was a factor that caused the balloon to strike the tower, Winchell said. The cause of the crash will be subject to investigation. But the wind also might have helped the balloon remain in place during the rescue. 

“It was wrapped up in a couple places,” Winchell said. The balloon and basket stayed secure even when the balloon was deflated. 

Winchell said the man and woman were “glad for help” when firefighters arrived at the top of the tower. 

“I think they felt better once we had harnesses on them and had them secured because it certainly was not stable, did not look stable,” Winchell said. “It’s just a basket that was swinging pretty good in the breeze there, and they’re just hanging out in that basket with a partially torn balloon wrapped in a few places, is what was holding them there.”

Firefighters had to remain task-focused.

“All of us can get in our head on things like this, and all of us just need to focus on one foot in front of the other,” Winchell said. “Ultimately, what we’re doing is not crazy complex, at some level. It’s just simple things. It’s just a very challenging place to do those simple things.

“As firefighters and rescuers, most of our guys have years of experience of turning off emotions and fears and just doing the next right thing to help the person in front of you,” Winchell said.

He said firefighters have made tower rescues before, but never one at such a height. Longview firefighters have prepared to rescue people from hot air balloons stuck in power lines and trees. Longview is home to the Great Texas Balloon Race, a large annual gathering of hot air balloonists. And they’ve prepared to rescue people from towers and buildings. But never have they rescued hot air balloonists stuck near the top of such a tall structure. 

“We talk about this [tower] as being one of the logistical challenges because of the height, the exposure and all those factors,” Winchell said. “We literally have talked about this one. We’ve also briefed and talked about what we’d do if a hot air balloon gets stuck in a power line or tree or something. We just didn’t expect today that both of those scenarios would get combined into one very tall rescue.”

Winchell said he was surprised how smoothly and safely the operation went, particularly with the rescue of the man and woman. 

“If there had been people that were injured or not as capable, we would have had to climb out to that basket, and that would have added a significant degree of difficulty,” Winchell said. “The fact that they were able to put on harnesses and follow our commands and all that sort of thing, honestly made our job a lot easier.”