FIREFIGHTERS were called to a Great Yarmouth building site yesterday (Tuesday) after a contractor was hit by a falling roof beam.The contractor, who is from Bedfordshire and in his late 40s, suffered a broken leg after the beam he was cutting in the second floor of a building fell on him at the site near the Retreat pub in Deneside at about 10.

FIREFIGHTERS were called to a Great Yarmouth building site yesterday (Tuesday) after a contractor was hit by a falling roof beam.

The contractor, who is from Bedfordshire and in his late 40s, suffered a broken leg after the beam he was cutting in the second floor of a building fell on him at the site near the Retreat pub in Deneside at about 10.30am.

Because of the seriousness of the man's leg injury, five fire crews were called in to help bring him down to the ground floor of the former car wash building.

More than a dozen firefighters used ladders and a hydraulic platform to carry the man down stairs.

The rescue operation took about one hour and the man was then taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston to be treated for a fractured femur.

Following the accident investigators from the Health and Safety Executive visited the building site.

Workman have been at the Deneside building for the last four weeks as they convert the structure into six flats, which should be available for rent late next year.