Two Window Washers Rescued At 1 World Trade Center After Scaffold Cable Snaps [Video]
Two window washers have been rescued outside the newly opened One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The workers were safely strapped, while inside a scaffold, according to officials.
According to Fox News, a cable snapped at about 1 p.m. ET and left the two window washers dangling from the 69th floor, which is over 1,000 feet above ground. At some point the scaffold was hanging almost vertically.
The New York Fire Department (FDNY) was on the scene to the tune of about 60 firefighters who were trying to figure out how to rescue the trapped window washers at One World Trade Center. Another piece of scaffolding can been seen outside the building but it is unclear if it was part of the cleaning job at the time of the incident.
Manhattan *High Angle Rescue* Box 8084- 1 World Trade Center. Photo By: RavazziArt pic.twitter.com/emBPBEzr93
— NYC Fire Wire (@NYCFireWire) November 12, 2014
— IG: mr_nate_shoots (@mr_nate_says) November 12, 2014
http://t.co/eaxuizDlwV pic.twitter.com/vdA8WHyfRM
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 12, 2014
http://t.co/Z04mj6ZHoZ pic.twitter.com/c7NRmsaIw5
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) November 12, 2014
The FDNY tweeted a photo from inside One World Trade Center showing the view they have of the two window washers while they were coming up with a way of reaching them.
Now: #FDNY rescuing workers trapped on scaffolding outside 1 World Trade Center. View from the 68th floor. pic.twitter.com/3c7Oi8EZPD
— FDNY (@FDNY) November 12, 2014
MAN ALL HANDS 1 WORLD TRADE CENTER, HIGH RISE (WORLD TRADE CENTER) SCAFFOLDING EMERGENCY,
— FDNY (@FDNY) November 12, 2014
Making matters difficult is the fact that this particular building has no ledges and that is why firefighters are currently cutting a pane to reach the workers.
MAN ALL HANDS 1 WORLD TRADE CENTER, HIGH RISE (WORLD TRADE CENTER) SCAFFOLDING EMERGENCY, UNDER CONTROL
— FDNY (@FDNY) November 12, 2014
According to WNBC, the men had five and 14-years of experience cleaning windows prior to Wednesday’s incident. The workers were on their way to the top of One World Trade Center when one of the motorized cables supporting their scaffold snapped or came lose, fire officials say.
“They’re a lot older now than they were two hours ago,” Thomas Von Essen, a former New York fire commissioner, told the station on air alluding to the danger they went through.
FDNY was able to successfully rescue the two window washers safely, and they are currently recovering from the ordeal after being diagnosed with hypothermia. One World Trade Center received its first tenants last week, more than 13-years after the September 11, 2001 attacks in which terrorists brought down the Twin Towers.
[Image via Twitter]
