INDIANAPOLIS — Three workers at the Regions Tower in Indianapolis are okay after needing the assistance of Indy firefighters to come down from a scaffold on the side of the tall building late last night.
The workers were replacing windows along the side of the building, a task they have been working on since 7:00 Monday morning. IFD Battalion Chief Rita Reith said the workers were lowing a 300-pound window from the 36th floor to the 19th floor when the pulley system they were using to lower the window came undone.
“The cable they were using slipped off the pulley,” said Reith. “So it basically stuck the scaffolding in place because they couldn’t let go of the window.”
After several attempts to fix the problem themselves, the workers had to call the fire department’s Tactical 7 team, which specializes in “high-angle rope rescues” as Reith put it. Reith said the workers on the scaffold never felt they were in any danger.
“Their main concern was securing that window,” she said. “Our tactical team went up to the 36th floor, they established a high angle rope rescue system and then lowered that rope from the 36th floor to the 19th floor where the gentlemen were able to secure that window.”
Reith said that was paramount because the system that was holding the window up was only going to last so long and that it was critical to keep the heavy glass window from falling to avoid serious damage/injury.
IMPD was called in as well to shut down Ohio St. and Pennsylvania St. as well to avoid the possibility of glass falling on someone.
Once the window was secured the workers were able to get the cable system back on the pulley and were able to lower the window back down to their staging area on the 5th floor of the tower. Reith said no one was hurt throughout the whole ordeal.
She said these situations are something they train for quite often.
“They probably train weekly,” she said. “If not, they go over something or some component of it daily. Because the Tactical teams have a variety of disciplines they have to be proficient on.”
