Urban Search and Rescue personnel rescued two window washers Wednesday after they were stuck in platform suspended from the rooftop of an Irvine high-rise building. Vikki Vargas reports for the NBC4 News at Noon on Wednesday Oct. 1, 2014.
Two workers washing windows on the side of an Irvine high-rise building were stuck for several hours before members of an urban search and rescue team helped bring them to safety.
The window washers were working on a metal platform suspended by cables from the rooftop at 4 Park Plaza, an office building north of the 405 Freeway near Jamboree Road. The workers, who were wearing body harnesses, were not injured, according to Orange County Fire Authority officials.
About 35 members of the department responded to the 19-floor building after the workers became stuck 225 feet off the ground at about 9:30 a.m. By mid-day, crew members secured in harnesses on the rooftop lowered cables that were attached to the platform, called a "swing stage."
The cables were attached to cranks -- a hand-operated crank on one side, a motorized device on the other -- that allowed the workers to slowly bring the "swing stage" to the roof. The workers took turns usuing the manual crank as they tired.
"The sun was beating on them, it's hot," said Capt. Steve Concialdi, of the Orange County Fire Authority.
The workers were helped from the platform to the rooftop just before 1 p.m.
