For more than an hour on Wednesday afternoon, two window washers commanded the concern of New York City.
Juan Lizama, 41, and Juan Lopez, 33, were stuck.
But they were not stranded on the side of just any building. They were dangling precariously 69 stories above the streets of Lower Manhattan at 1 World Trade Center, which opened for business last week, 13 years after the original World Trade Center was destroyed.
Crowds gathered quickly. Nothing happens in this corner of this small island, still referred to by many as ground zero, without stirring emotions.
As firefighters and other rescue workers rushed to the scene, so too did news helicopters and television crews. Soon, the race to save the workers was playing out on live television, being broadcast across the nation and around the world. Groups of tourists, many visiting the Sept. 11 memorial, turned away from the reflecting pools and mingled with residents, construction workers and employees on their lunch breaks, all hoping nothing tragic would play out.
Window Washers Dangle From Tower
Two window washers were suspended precariously from the side of the World Trade Center tower, 69 floors above the street.
Video by Reuters on Publish Date November 12, 2014. Photo by Reuters.James McDonnell, 32, saw the events from the window of his office on the 31st floor of a nearby building and he was one of many to post pictures to Twitter.
When he first noticed the window-washing rig, it was sitting at an odd angle. Then, he said, it dropped some more and sent liquid pouring from the basket. “It just kind of lurched,” he said.
Ramon Castro, 59, a window washer carrying his tools in an orange bucket on the streets below the building, was reminded of a time when he got stuck on a similar scaffold for five hours.
“I just hope they are calm,” he said. “If you panic, it’ll only make things worse.”
Just the idea of cleaning windows on one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world — alternately terrifying and thrilling — has long claimed the popular imagination.
When the twin towers stood, the best-known window washer there was probably Roko Camaj, whose typical work day was chronicled in 1995 by Keith Elliot Greenberg and Bob Strong in their “Risky Business” series of children’s books. It was titled “Window Washer: At Work Above the Clouds.”
Mr. Camaj survived the perils of his trade. He was killed on Sept. 11, 2001.
But he was doing a job he loved, his son, Vincent, recalled: “He’d always say, ‘It was me and the sky up here. I bother no one, and no one bothers me.’ ”
Mr. Lizama and Mr. Lopez, who officials said were unhurt, could not be reached for comment.
John McDermott, the president of Upgrade Service, which employs the men, said the cause of the accident “appears to be equipment failure of the traction hoist brake mechanism that supports one side of the rig.”
Mr. McDermott praised the men for remaining calm and for following safety protocols.
“The world of high-rise window cleaning is a fraternity and we all are relieved that both of our brothers were rescued safely today,” he said.
Fire officials said that the rig was lowered and raised by four cables and that a single cable was capable of supporting the entire rig.
Those cables were not moving in unison and, outside the 69th floor, slack began to build up in the cables securing the west side of the rig.
As the slack grew, the basket began to list, one side sloping down to the 68th floor at an almost vertical angle.
Mr. Lizama and Mr. Lopez were secured to the rig with harnesses but the first priority of firefighters was making sure they were safe.
After the call came in at 12:42 p.m., firefighters from Squad 18 went to the roof of the 104-story building. They lowered a radio to communicate with the men and a 600-foot-long rope, with which the men secured themselves. When fully extended from the roof, the rope had only 15 feet to spare.
“The concern was them being bashed around by the side of the building; that was more of the concern,” said Lt. Billy Ryan of Rescue 1, which helped pull the men to safety.
“The workers were calm,” Lieutenant Ryan added. “They knew they were in a bad spot. They knew we were going to help them. They understood what was going on, and they were not panicked. They were crouched, one sort of a bit more elevated than the other, on the scaffolding.”
The first option was to cut a hole in the window and pull the men to safety.As a backup, rescue workers began to lower a second rig, in case the men had to move off their rig.
The problem with cutting through the glass, Lieutenant Ryan said, was that it could become pressurized at a high altitude, so rescue workers had to be careful that it did not shatter and injure anyone.
Ultimately, they cut through the layers and they reached the men from the 68th floor, where the interior was still under construction.
“We just pointed to the ropes and stuff, so it was like a game of charades or something,” he said. “They were straight-faced.”
To steady the rig, one firefighter leaned out of the hole in the glass, and put his foot on the scaffold to stabilize it. He helped guide the first worker into the building. Then another firefighter leaned out and put his foot on the scaffold and the second worker scrambled to safety. At 2:15 p.m., both men were inside, the Fire Department said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the work done to rescue the men, calling it “an extraordinary effort.”
Asked if working a rescue at the new building stirred any particular emotions, given the history of the firefighters who died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Lieutenant Ryan gave a simple answer.
“It’s business,” he said. “You separate yourself from that.”