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Photo courtesy DC Fire/EMS
Some scaffolding collapsed under a pair of window washers this morning, causing the D.C. fire department to launch a daring high-angle rescue. It happened about 7:30 a.m. at an 11-story building at 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW.
One of the workers was able to climb to safety with the help of co-workers, but the second man was stuck dangling eight floors up, so the fire department lowered a rescuer down to him in a harness, as you can see in the image above. The worker was safely rescued and no one was injured in the incident.
More photos of the rescue are posted to the DC Fire/EMS Facebook page.
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Wow! What a shot. Glad everyone is ok.
Harry Tuttle to the rescue!
What is it with all the recent accidents? Was OSHA enforcement gutted recently?
Recently? Hardly. It took eight solid years of gutting regulations to get OSHA where it is today. And while we were distracted by these innovation-stifling regulations, we allowed both Gog & Magog to flourish in the Middle East.
Pretty ballsy. Job well done, guys.
My two favorite childhood vocational fantasies linked in one fantastic catastrophe!!
And why is it only in DC that 11 story buildings are considered "High-Rises?"
Glad everybody got out of this safe!
Because only in DC did Congress get all scared by the building of the 12-story Cairo building (still one of the tallest buildings in town at 16th & Q) and pass the Height of Buildings Act, back in the 19th century when 12 stories did in fact constitute a high-rise.
(Building geek trivia: tour guides always claim that the HOB Act limits buildings to be no higher than the Capitol; that was true for about a dozen years, but for the last 100 or so years, the limit has been the lesser of either 20 ft + the width of the widest street that the building faces, or a secondary limit depending on where the building is (80ft if it's on the plaza by Union Station, 160 ft if it's on the north side of Penn Ave between the Capitol and the White House, 90 feet if it's in a residential district, or 130 feet if it's in a business district).)
Well, I hope that rescuer checked the guy's work visa before he agreed to pull him back up. I'm just so darned tired of you dumbocrats wasting MY tax dollars on illegal immigrants!*
*calm down, I'm kidding.
I never understood the architecture design in this town. If your building has 11 floors, it makes perfect sense to design it so you can open a goddamn window. This rescue would've been a lot easier if that were the case.
Adding windows that can open adds a couple hundred thousand dollars to your building's pricetag. Central AC depends on creating a sealed environment where hot/cold air, flatulence, and B.O. can circulate freely to distribute airborne pathogens and perpetuate sick building syndrome. Fresh air is anathema to this design mantra.
I still remember seeing the first building diagnosed with sick building syndrome. It was an office in London. They showed the central AC unit's condenser system which contained no filtration system. The condensation collected in pallets, on which was growing about six inches of mold and mildew. It looked like a furry green duvet with fecal blobs writhing in it. That's what everyone in the building got to breathe every day.
They should give all these guys parachutes ... and especially colorful ones for the exterior window washers. Great photo op for the tourists.
Maybe it's just the photo, but he looks like a crash dummy. JINX!
There is no such thing as a "high rise" in DC.
I'll be sure to tell the guy when he hits the pavement.
I got a "high rise". IN MY PANTS
MOLLY!