A 64-year-old man remains in a critical condition after falling approximately six metres from an apartment balcony onto a shop roof in Dee Why’s main shopping precinct last night.
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Emergency services were called to Oaks Avenue just before 8.00pm on Monday evening following reports of the fall from a four-storey apartment building.
The man’s family members witnessed the incident, and distressed neighbours who heard calls for help looked down from their balconies to see him lying on the corrugated metal roof, covered in blood. Despite his injuries, the man was conscious and able to respond when neighbours called out to him, though he appeared confused and could not move.
The scale of the emergency response reflected the severity of the incident, with five NSW Ambulance crews dispatched to the scene, including Intensive Care Paramedics, Special Operations Paramedics and NSW Ambulance Inspector Kylie O’Brien. Multiple units from Northern Beaches Police Area Command and Fire and Rescue NSW crews from Dee Why, Narrabeen and Manly stations also attended.
First responders arrived within five minutes but faced the challenge of accessing the injured man on the roof. Neighbours continued to relay information about his condition to emergency workers below, confirming he remained conscious and breathing.
Firefighters arrived less than ten minutes after the initial emergency call and used an extension ladder to reach the man. They found him with a suspected broken right leg and a significant head laceration that was bleeding heavily. The man, who had reportedly been cleaning at the time of the fall, informed rescuers he was taking blood-thinning medication, which heightened concerns about controlling the bleeding.
The Toll NSW Ambulance Rescue Helicopter was dispatched from Bankstown, landing at Beverley Job Park in Narraweena shortly after 8.30pm. The aeromedical team, comprising a specialist trauma doctor and critical care paramedic, was escorted to the scene by police.
Firefighters carefully secured the man in a stokes litter and used a ladder slide technique to move him from the shop roof to a neighbouring apartment, where paramedics and the medical team were waiting. Given the height of the fall and concerns about potential internal injuries and bleeding, the medical team made the decision to place the man in an induced coma.
He was transported by road to Royal North Shore Hospital shortly after 9.15pm in a critical condition.
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The incident occurred in the heart of Dee Why’s shopping district on a Monday evening, with multiple emergency service vehicles attending the scene.
Published 5-January-2026
