Two window washers trapped on a dangling scaffold nearly 70 storeys up the new 1 World Trade Centre tower were rescued on Wednesday by firefighters who sawed through a window to reach them.
The dramatic rescue, coming a little more than a week after the nation’s tallest building officially opened, was followed by throngs of New Yorkers on the ground and many more around the world watching on live TV.
It was unclear whether the scaffold had been used on the 1,776-foot, 104-storey skyscraper before or whether anything about the building’s design complicates working a scaffold there. Officials stressed that firefighters had trained for various emergencies at the tower, the Centrepiece of the rebuilt World Trade Centre.
The window washers, Juan Lizama and Juan Lopez, were working on the lower Manhattan building’s south side early in the afternoon when one of the platform’s four cables abruptly developed slack, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. The open-topped platform tilted sharply and swayed slightly in the wind between the 68th and 69th floors, he said.
Officials haven’t determined what caused the cable problem. The cables are controlled from the scaffold vehicle, the fire commissioner said.
About 100 firefighters rushed to the skyscraper, some of them lowering ropes from the roof so the workers could secure themselves and a two-way radio for them to communicate, Mr. Nigro said. The workers also were harnessed to the platform.
Firefighters first used diamond cutters to saw through part of a two-layered glass window on the 68th floor. They shattered the thick glass in place, then carefully pulled the broken pieces into the building.
Firefighters also began inching another scaffold down the building as a backup rescue plan, but they were able to bring the workers to safety through the window hole.
Mayor Bill de Blasio praised rescuers for “great coordination.”
Firefighters generally seek to cut out windows to make such rescues, but Mr. Nigro noted the trade Centre’s thick glass- a double-paned inner layer and an outer pane.
Mr. Lizama and Mr. Lopez were checked out at a hospital and released.
Their union, Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, said it makes sure workers follow rigorous safety protocols.
The silvery skyscraper, which rose from the ashes of the September 11, 2001, terror attack, reopened last week to 175 employees of magazine publisher Conde Nast. About 3,000 more Conde Nast employees are expected to move in by early next year, eventually occupying 25 floors of the $3.9 billion tower.
Steps away from the new tower are two memorial fountains built on the footprints of the decimated twin towers, a reminder of the more than 2,700 people who died in the September 11 attack.
