Close Shaves For Window Cleaners

A window washer working on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus fell several stories from the side of the Elvey Building on Friday afternoon.

A window washer working on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus fell several stories from the side of the Elvey Building on Friday afternoon. The man, whose name has not been released, was cleaning windows on the exterior of the building when he fell from his post about 2:15 p.m. Friday. The University police and fire departments responded to the incident. When paramedics arrived on scene the man was conscious and able to talk with first responders, according to Capt. Forrest Kuiper with the University Fire Department.

The man told paramedics he had been cleaning windows on the third story of the building when he fell, Kuiper said. “There was nothing visible that showed where he was working at all, so that was based just on what he told us,” Kuiper said. Paramedics put the man on a backboard and transported him to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. His injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, according to Kuiper. University spokesperson Marmian Grimes said she did not have information on the victim. Window washers are contracted workers and not university employees. The Elvey Building is seven stories tall and can be recognized by the large satellite-tracking dish antenna on its roof. It houses the UAF Geophysical Institute.

Van thieves pinned the professional window cleaner between the side of the van and a wall, leaving him with cuts and bruises.

Couple injured while trying to stop van thieves: A Ballygawley mother of two has spoken of the frightening moment she narrowly avoided being run over trying to stop thieves making off in the family’s van. Gail McIvor was enjoying a quiet Sunday morning at the family home on Grange Road when two drunken men appeared at the front of their property between Ballygawley roundabout and the village’s Main Street. 

The mother-of-two first spotted the pair sitting in the family car at the front of the house at 10:30 am, which was open, but with no keys inside. She spoke to the men through an open window. They then walked around the side of property where her husband Paul was working at the back of his new Transit van. “The next thing I heard him shouting and I went out. At this stage the van had started, I could hear it spinning on the stones,” said Gail. 

Moving off, the van thieves pinned the professional window cleaner between the side of the van and a wall, leaving him with cuts and bruises. “I actually stood out in front of them and put my two hands up. I just thought if I could get them to slow down, my husband could maybe catch up with them,” said Gail. “But when they seen me, they actually accelerated,” she recalled. “They didn’t slow down at all.” 

Diving for cover, Gail was struck in the hip, spinning her around and sending her onto the ground. “It’s unbelievable,” she said. “We’re still very shook up about it, it’s still very hard to believe it actually happened.” Police immediately launched an investigation into the incident on Sunday, tracing the van to Middletown in Co' Armagh at 11am, where two men were reported for acting suspiciously. A further report was received at 12.10pm on Sunday of two men in a white Transit being involved in the theft of a blue Peugeot 406 car in the Blaney Road area of Crossmaglen. 

Just one hour later, the two men’s escapade ended, when they spectacularly crashed through fencing into field at Drumcaw, on the main Emyvale to Monaghan road. The pair were detained by An Garda Síochána and the McIvor’s Transit van was later recovered in the Cullaville Road area of Crossmaglen near Ballyinacarry Bridge. 

It’s understood the keys of the McIvor’s van and their house were found in men’s possession. On Monday, Terence McDonagh (30) of Townspark, Cavan and John McDonagh (44) of Castlecurragh Vale, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, appeared in court in Monaghan town charged in connection with the Emyvale incident. Terence McDonagh was charged with driving a vehicle without consent of the owner, driving while under the influence of an intoxicant, driving without insurance and possession of stolen property, namely a box of Bulmers cider. John McDonagh was charged with allowing himself to be carried in a vehicle without consent of the owner and the theft of Bulmers Light from the Topaz filling station just outside Monaghan town. 

Both were remanded in custody to Cloverhill Prison, Dublin until a hearing in Monaghan on Monday. It’s understood that the pair will be dealt with by the courts over the border before being handed over to the PSNI to face charges in connection with incident in Ballygawley. With the Transit van now back in their possession, albeit dented with broken windows, the McIvors said they were grateful that their two children, aged one and four years were inside the house at the time of the incident. “It was a very scary situation, it wasn’t what you would expect at 10:30 am on a Sunday morning in broad daylight,” said Gail. “It’s bad, were very shook up, but it could have been a lot worse.”