Home Owner Who Loved To Clean Windows Falls To His Death

Traffic moves through the intersection of Church and Helen streets in Saranac Lake on Monday in front of the DeChantel Apartments. Residents of the 130-unit apartment complex are still coming to grips with the deaths of Louis Sparacia, in a fall from his 10th floor apartment last week, and another DeChantel tenant by suicide two days earlier.

Deaths disturb high-rise residents: Saranac Lake - Residents of the DeChantel Apartments on Church Street are still mourning the death of Louis Sparacia, who died a week ago Monday when he fell from the window of his 10th story apartment. Sparacia, 69, was apparently trying to clean the outside of his apartment's windows when he fell to the ground between the building and Helen Street. Police say the death was accidental.

Sparacia's death, particularly the way he died, has upset many of the DeChantel's residents, a tight-knit community of more than 100 people. Many are still coming to grips with what happened that day. "I saw the ambulance pull up," recalled a DeChantel tenant named Jim, who declined to give the Enterprise his last name. "I went downstairs and saw everybody standing in the community room. I looked out the window and saw (his body) was there. It was just very depressing." Sparacia's death was the second tragedy to hit the apartment complex recently. Another tenant committed suicide by gunshot just two days earlier.

To help those who are grieving, Phil and Wayne Feinberg, the father and son who manage the 130-unit apartment complex, invited a bereavement specialist from High Peaks Hospice, a counselor from North Star Industries and two local clergy - the Rev. Mark Reilly of St. Bernard's Church and Rev. Joann White of First Presbyterian Church - to a bereavement session for the building's tenants on Friday. Feinberg said he's been told that people are doing better now, but initially they were "pretty shaken" by the two deaths. "When two people pass away in three days the way that they did, it hits everybody," he said.

A resident of the DeChantel for the past nine years, Sparacia was well known among the building's tenants and had served as president of the DeChantel tenants' association as recently as two years ago. He was described as a friendly man who was always willing to lend a hand to help his neighbors. "He was a big stalwart of this community here," Jim said. "He was a really nice guy - one of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life." Jim said he wasn't surprised to learn that Lou - as he was known to his fellow tenants - had been trying to clean his windows the day that he died. "He loved to clean," he said. "He'd go around to apartments and want to clean them for people. He wanted to do mine one time."

A longtime DeChantel resident named Charlotte, who also declined to provide her last name, said she took Sparacia shopping several times because he was visually impaired. "I knew him well," she said. "He was a good cook. He'd cook here when we had parties. He worked at the Adult Center often. A real gentleman." Phil Feinberg recalled seeing Sparacia frequently over the years. "He was a very nice guy," Feinberg said. "He would usually try to help anybody if he could. He was quite a gentleman."

Asked about the circumstances surrounding Sparacia's death, the Feinbergs said they don't clean the windows of individual apartments and don't want their tenants, many of whom are elderly, to do that work. They typically try to help their tenants find someone to clean their windows. "Usually every year there's one or two people who put signs up in the lobby, and they'll come in and do the window cleaning for people," Wayne Feinberg said. "We're not telling people to be reaching out and cleaning their windows."

The DeChantel building, which opened in 1973, is owned by the nonprofit Dechantel Apartments Inc. and has 130 apartments, all of them for low-income senior citizens, with rents subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Louis Sparacia is survived by two sons, a daughter and other family members. Funeral services took place Monday at St. Bernard's Church. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Sparacia will be laid to rest at Saratoga National Cemetery.

Baltimore Window Cleaner Rescue

Firefighters Rescue Window Washer Trapped Outside 10th Floor of Towson Building: Baltimore County firefighters rescued a window washer who was trapped dangling in his harness for nearly an hour outside the 10th floor of a high-rise building near the Towson Town Center Mall.

The window washer was transported to Maryland Shock Trauma to be treated for injuries. Fire officials did not identify the window washer and did not say what type of injuries he suffered.

Fire officials received the 911 call at 12:18 p.m. and rescued him at 1:10 p.m. An advanced tactical rescue team from the Texas fire station helped with the rescue. One rescuer rappelled from the building's roof while another firefigther attempted to assist from a window near the window washer. Other rescuers ascended to the trapped man in a basket affixed to the end of a fire truck's ladder.

A window washer was trapped Thursday outside an assisted living facility at 800 Southerly Road.

A window washer hangs outside a window at 800 Southerly Road, an assisted living facility for the elderly. Residents on the left watch the window washer on the right.

The window washer, who appeared to be concious, was placed in the basket and returned to the ground. He was then placed on a strecther and taken away by an ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma, officials said. The fire department issued this notification at 12:38 p.m. that fire officials are "on the scene of a high-rise tactical rescue at 800 Southerly Road" in Towson.

Shortly after 1 p.m. firefighters rescued the window washer, whose identity is not yet known. The original notification from the fire department from spokeswoman Elise Armacost stated: "Preliminary reports say a window washer in a harness is trapped outside the 10th floor. Advanced tactical rescue personnel are en route."

Edenwald, a luxury assisted-living community for seniors, is located at 800 Southerly Road. The set of high-rise buildings just across the street from Towson Town Mall provides amenities such as an indoor pool, fitness center, pub, lounge, chapel, putting green, and air-conditioned walking track.

Baltimore County firefighters rescue a window washer who had been trapped outside the 10th floor of a Towson building.