Woman rescued after fall from steeple at Rockport church

ROCKPORT, Mass. (WHDH) — A worker photographing a steeple restoration project at a church in Rockport was injured Friday morning after falling from a ladder.

Emergency crews responded to the First Congregational Church on School Street after learning a woman had fallen about six feet onto the church’s bell deck.

Firefighters extended a ladder to the roof, placed the 26-year-old Sarah Alinia on a stretcher and slowly inched her 75 feet to the ground below.

Alinia was taken to a local hospital with head and back injuries, but she is expected to be OK. She described the incident as a frantic scare.

“It was scary. Before I knew it, I hit the roof. I was in a lot of pain,” Alinia said.

Officials say Alinia nearly landed in a spot where she could have fallen an additional 20-25 feet into a clock tower.

Engineering crews were high above the ground working to replace a rotted out steeple. Officials say the woman was taking pictures of the bell tower when she fell.

“She was stepping from the staging onto a ladder to descend, reached for a structure to balance herself, but unfortunately what she chose was something in the process of being put in so it wasn’t yet nailed,” witness Geof Lyon told 7News.

The fire department’s 100-foot ladder barely reached staging area. Officials say a medical helicopter was almost requested.

The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was struck by a cannonball during the war of 1812.

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