FDNY makes Brooklyn rescue of window washers hangin' by a prayer: Two window washers were left dangling 30 feet above a Brooklyn street Monday when the scaffolding they were standing on collapsed in high winds. Antonio Rojas, 47, and Carlos Caseres (pictured left), 41, were both wearing their safety harnesses, preventing them from plummeting to the Flatlands street more than three stories below. "My first instinct was to grab the rope and stay calm," said Rojas, who has been washing windows for 26 years. "That's what you have to do ... If you lose your calmness, that's when things go wrong." The wooden, manually operated scaffolding was connected to the roof of the Kings Highway building by a pair of ropes, one of which gave way just before 2 p.m. on the blustery early spring day. As their frantic co-workers called 911, the two men could only pray the remaining rope would hold as they clung to it for nearly 15 minutes. "No one wants to die like this," said Rojas. "We're lucky this time."Firefighters secured the men with a second rope from the roof. They then used a ladder to reach the men and pull them to safety. "The scaffolding was like a trap door and it gave way," said Chief Donald Howard of Battalion 33. "Without the harness, they would have fallen and landed on a metal picket fence."
The Buildings Department issued two violations to the building owner for use of rigging equipment without a rigger's license and failure to safeguard all persons and property during construction operations, officials said.
No comments:
Post a Comment