Lightning Strike Hits Window Cleaner

A man was struck by lightning Thursday while working atop the Marriott Marquis hotel in downtown Atlanta.

911 system knocked out, hotel window washer struck by lightning as fierce storms strike Cumming, Ga. — Crews are scrambling to make repairs after the 911 system in Forsyth County was knocked out at the height of fierce thunderstorms that struck the metro Atlanta area. Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton tells WSB Radio that Thursday's storms are believed to have knocked out the system. Paxton said the county is using its mobile command center and also getting help from Hall County's 911 center to relay emergency calls. The storm system that rolled through Forsyth County, just north of Atlanta, also sent a lightning bolt crashing onto an Atlanta hotel rooftop, injuring a worker Thursday afternoon. The man was washing windows at the top of the Marriott Marquis hotel in downtown Atlanta when the lightning hit. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. His condition wasn't known.

Lightning strikes man on window-washing scaffold -- Officials with the Atlanta Fire Department said a man was struck by lightning while on a window-washing scaffold on a downtown hotel building Thursday afternoon. It happened at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, at the corner of John Portman Boulevard and Peachtree Center Avenue. Hotel general manager Erica Qualls says the man was working with AAA National Maintenance, a window-washing company. Qualls said the man had been washing windows earlier in the day, but at the time he was struck, he was securing ropes. Qualls said Marriott has a policy that no roof work is to be done when there is lightning in the area, and says she does not know why he was still up there. The man has been transported to Grady Memorial Hospital. The man's condition is unknown, at this time.

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A scaffold lift sits on the ground after a malfunction left a worker hanging on the exterior of the Capitol in Olympia on Thursday.

Worker left dangling after mishap on Legislative Building: Cleaning of the Legislative Building has been suspended indefinitely after a platform similar to that used by window washers gave way, leaving one worker suspended by his life line 40 feet above the ground for about two minutes. Cleaning of the Legislative Building was suspended indefinitely Thursday after a platform similar to that used by window washers gave way, leaving one worker suspended by his life line 40 feet above the ground for about two minutes, according to officials at the state Department of Enterprise Services.

The employee of Seattle-based Western Waterproofing Co., who has not been identified, was pulled to safety on the fourth-floor roof by a co-worker just as Olympia Fire Department personnel arrived on the scene about 7:10 a.m. to assist. Work on the $1.148 million project will not resume until all the scaffolding and equipment are checked, and the dozen or so employees assigned to the job go through additional safety training, Enterprise Services spokesman Jim Erskine said. There were two workers in the rectangular mobile platform preparing to pressure-wash a portion of the Legislative Building. It was not immediately clear how the second worker reached safety.

The project to perform critical exterior repairs and clean the upper two-thirds of the building began in late July and was to be completed in early November. The Capitol Dome is typically scrubbed clean every five years, but the work scheduled for 2009 was placed on hold because of the bleak state budget picture. The current contract also includes tackling leaks in the historic sandstone structure. Enterprise Services maintains the Capitol Campus and its buildings.

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The view Thursday afternoon from the west tower of Marina City. At least four cameras are filming firefighters at center carrying on a stretcher the victim of the mishap at left.

Dearborn Street suits up for role in Chicago Fire: Two actors dressed as Chicago firefighters run past two cars parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. North Dearborn Street just south of Kinzie Street was turned into a film set on Thursday as a scene was filmed for the new television series, Chicago Fire. Traffic on Dearborn was reduced to one lane from early morning to late afternoon, and stopped altogether during actual filming. The two cars on the west side of Dearborn were made up to look like window-washing equipment had fallen from 353 North Clark. According to the Chicago Film Office, Thursday was the one and only day of filming on Dearborn for Chicago Fire. While the show will continue to shoot throughout Chicago through mid-December, there are no plans for them to be back in River North anytime soon. Chicago Fire premiers on NBC on October 10.