In Midtown, NYC, 2 maintenance workers were stranded 45 stories in the air for an hour today when the scaffolding they were working from broke in the middle. Around 500 feet in the air at Hearst Tower, the home of the Hearst Media Corporation, the pair was doing regular maintenance work.
The unusual zigzag diamond shape of the windows—see the picture below—required Hearst Tower to commission a unique scaffold for window washers and other workers, with a motorized center which two “legs” can fold around. That motor failed, leaving the scaffold dangling, writes the NewYorker.com.
According to Reuters.com, approximately 60 firefighters from 12 companies got to the scene as soon as the accident occurred. Rather than attempt to raise the workers to the roof or lower firefighters to lift them, the firefighters chose to cut a 4-foot by 4-foot panel from a 44th floor window. A firefighter stepped through and assisted the 2 maintenance workers into the building.
While the platform reportedly remains securely attached to the roof, ABCNews.go.com notes that parts nearby streets, including 57th Street, 58th Street, and 8th Avenue, were closed during the crisis and remain closed with the scaffold still hanging.