Tallest In Texas Rescue

Two workers have been pulled through an open window to safety after the scaffolding they were working on fell on one side, dangling precariously outside Houston's tallest skyscraper.

Window washers rescued from dangling scaffold outside Houston's tallest skyscraper: Two workers were pulled through an open window to safety after the scaffold they were working on fell on one side, dangling precariously outside Houston's tallest skyscraper. According to the Houston Fire Department, the workers were at the 71st floor when they experienced a motor malfunction and radioed for help.

HFD High Angle Rescue Teams arrived. There were also windows glaziers on scene and a mechanic from the window washing company. HFD was able to establish contact with the two men on the scaffold and they were brought in through a 71st floor window after the glass was removed by the two glaziers. There were no injuries and this incident was declared under control at 11:10 a.m. JPMorgan Chase Tower downtown is Houston's tallest building, at 75 stories (1,049 feet) tall. That's just shy of three and a half football fields.

Firefighters rescued two window washers trapped on a broken scaffold on the JP Morgan Chase Tower in downtown Houston on Monday morning.

HFD rescues window washers 71 floors up:  HOUSTON - Houston firefighters responded to the JPMorgan Chasetower in downtown where a window washer's scaffolding partially collapsed. Fire fighters were seen helping carry out the rescue operation before 11 a.m. above Texas Street near Travis. It appeared one half of the scaffolding's support lines gave way due to a motor failure. The incident happened near the 71st floor of the 75-floor building. There were no reports of injuries. The rescue operation came to an end before 11:30 a.m. after firefighters managed to remove a window and bring the workers to safety. The cause of the incident is under investigation. The tower is widely known as the tallest building in Texas.

By 11:30 a.m. the men had been allowed to escape the platform through a window in the building.  Work continued to stabilize the window washing platform. 

Houston window washers rescued from dangling skyscraper platform: Two workers have been rescued from a dangling window-washing scaffold 71 stories above downtown Houston. According to the Houston Fire Department, the two workers were pulled to safety through a 71st story window of the 75-story Chase Bank Building at about 11:10 a.m. Monday.

The men had become trapped on the dangling scaffolding at about 10:37 a.m. when the platform experienced a motor malfunction. For approximately 25 minutes, the scaffold remained dangling over downtown while the men awaited rescue. No injuries were reported. Fire officials still have Travis blocked near the scene while crews worked to secure the platform.

Terrifying ordeal ... the men were left hanging from the side of JPMorgan Chase tower in Houston, Texas for an hour. 

Window cleaners rescued after dangling 300m above the ground for an hour: Two window washers were at the top of a 75-storey tower when their cleaning rig malfunctioned, leaving them dangling at a 45-degree angle. The men were 300 metres off the ground on a platform suspended from the roof of the 75-storey JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston, Texas’ tallest building, when one of two elevation motors broke down.
KHOU 11 News reports the platform was left listing for about an hour before firefighters could rescue the workers on Monday morning. Fortunately, the workers were secured with additional safety harnesses separate from the window washing platform. Rescuers removed a window on the 71st floor and pulled the men to safety. “That looks like just about my worst nightmare. It’s pretty terrifying. I’m sure those guys are really cold up there too,” witness Tyler Ferguson told KPRC.
Witness Amy Lafargue said: “They were hanging on for dear life, for sure. They were facing the building looking in. So I’m sure that everybody inside the Chase Tower was freaking out hoping that they were going to be OK. They were just holding on.”
Houston Fire Department spokesperson Kenyatta Parker said the rescue was challenging but the men were safe. “When you’re dealing with something so high, that’s when you have to bring in the rescue team for a high-angle rescue,” Parker told KPRC Houston. “Certain things that they know that an ordinary person wouldn’t. It’s tedious, I’m certain, on their end. Just sit back and let them do what they do.” The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident. The window washers worked for Jobs Building Services.

Chase Tower Cleaners, Houston

When cleaning granite and washing windows on the 1,049-foot-tall JPMorgan Chase Tower in downtown Houston, one wrong move can make for a very bad day. "It is in the hands of God ... destiny," Jose-Luis Riquelme (pictured), who specializes in working at extreme heights, said Tuesday. "If I die doing this, I'll die doing what I enjoy." That's not to say they are daredevils. They take plenty of precautions as they attack a three-month project to bathe the five-sided building, which has about 3,100 windows and more than two acres of glass. A falling phone could hit 120 mph before reaching the sidewalk. The key to success for the job, which pays as much as $22 an hour, is not working scared, but staying aware that working on the sides of a 75-level building is a uniquely perilous situation. Among the guidelines: No quick movements, leave stresses at home, equally distribute weight across the scaffolding. "If someone would ask, 'Are you guys crazy?' I'd say, 'Of course not,' " said LaRue Coleman, whose companies, AMS Texas and JOBS Building Services, maintain the facades of many downtown buildings. "We know what we do," continued Coleman, who started as a window cleaner nearly 40 years ago in college. "We understand how to do it and the safety involved." He stressed that workers are trained before taking on high-rise duties. Still, a peek straight over the edge is all it takes to race the pulse and dizzy the vision of the uninitiated. "Fear is good. It lets you know there is danger," said Riquelme, who shared a scaffold Tuesday with Carlos Atilio and Milton Tovar as they cleaned the side of the Chase Tower. It moved spookily as the wind kicked up. Atilio, 39, is among the most experienced on skyscrapers. The native of Guatemala became a window washer out of necessity nearly 20 years ago and seems nearly as comfortable on the platform as he would in his living room. "I'm grateful to this country," he said of the opportunity to make a better life for himself and his children. Tovar, 34, originally from Honduras, has done high-rise work for six years. He's a religious man who often says a silent prayer before stepping out on the platform.
He, like the others, wears long sleeves to protect himself from the sun and drinks plenty of water. The new kid, Riquelme, 28, who recently moved from Chile, can't get enough of heights. He spends his spare time climbing rocks and mountains. His highest yet came last year when he climbed the 22,834-foot Aconcagua Mountain in Argentina. Unlike some buildings, such as the U.S. Capitol or San Antonio's Tower of the Americas, where workers have rappelled down the sides, the Chase Tower has a high-tech scaffold system mounted on tracks and permanently attached to the roof. The stage, as the platform is known, is less than 3 feet wide, 40 feet long and surrounded by railing. Designed specifically for the Houston tower by the Tractel company of Canada, it is suspended by more than 100 miles of steel wire wound into four support cables that can hold 4,000 pounds.



Although rare, when window washers fall, the end is brutal. In Houston in 1987, two window washers fell 32 floors from a Pennzoil Place tower — with scaffolding — on a pedestrian, who was also killed. In New York City last year, two brothers from Ecuador plunged 47 stories, with one killed and the other miraculously surviving after being in a coma for weeks. As the scaffolding makes its way up and down the Chase building, window washers get some surprise glimpses at life inside. People have been known to smile, wave and hold up signs, as well as to try to ignore them. Like priests, the washers seem to safeguard their secrets from some jobs, but insist there really hasn't been that much to see at the Chase Tower.
Those inside are sometimes caught off guard. "It is a little bit startling because you know you're 40 stories up and somebody is outside sudsing up your window," said lawyer Mike Morfey, who was impressed by their calmness. "It was like they were working on the corner." Standing on the roof of the Chase Tower, Phil Sokulski, a manager for AMS, seemed envious of the window washers. "This is as high as you can get in Houston without flying," he said.