Two construction workers doing work on the 20th floor of a Guttenberg hi-rise complex narrowly escaped sure disaster Monday after the scaffolding they were standing on suddenly snapped and collapsed, causing the men to dangle two stories above the ground before being pulled to safety.
According to North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue Chief Brion McEldowney, the two men, who were working for Quality Construction Corporation of Union City doing work at the Galaxy luxury apartment complex on Boulevard East, were battling high winds around 3:30 p.m. Monday when one side of the scaffolding dropped, causing the two workers to cling for their lives.
“One hung on to the rope attached to the scaffolding while the other hung by his fingertips on to a windowsill,” McEldowney said.
It just happened to be that a NHRFR fire unit was nearby, because a downed high-voltage power line had struck a truck of a landscaper who was also doing work at the Galaxy, causing the truck to catch fire.
While fighting the truck fire, Battalion Chief Charlie Severino looked up and noticed the two men dangling from the scaffold.
“Severino saw the scaffolding come down, with all the tools and everything flying off, so he was the first to spot it,” McEldowney said.
Bouncing off the building
The one man jumped off the scaffolding and grabbed on to the ledge of a window on the 20th floor. The other stayed with the swaying scaffold, but he had been repeatedly bouncing off the outside of the building because of the high winds.
The swaying scaffolding also broke several windows from its bouncing off the building.
Severino then alertly dispatched the NHRFR high-angle rescue unit, which is now housed in Guttenberg. The unit arrived at the scene almost immediately.
Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna just happened to be near the scene.
“It was pretty scary,” Delle Donna said. “I was over there because the lights went out when the power line went down. It was pretty hairy for a few moments, but everyone worked well together.”
There was a temporary blackout in parts of Guttenberg and West New York for about an hour after the line went down. It was not immediately known what caused the power line to come down and set the landscaping truck ablaze.
“There was no time to set up the high-angle rescue,” McEldowney said. “We had to get up there to them and pull them through a window.”
NHRFR firefighters Gary Mennitto and Peter Ellerbrock were the ones who pulled the man who was hanging on the windowsill to safety through a resident’s window on the 20th floor. NHRFR Captains Jim Stelman and Mike Giacumbo were the ones who saved the worker who was hanging from the scaffolding via the same method, through a window.
Both men, neither of whom was identified in police and fire reports, were transported to Palisades Medical Center, where they were treated for cuts and rope burns and released.
Hanging on
“These guys’ lives were hanging in the balance,” McEldowney said. “If our guys were not on the scene already, we don’t know if we would have gotten there in time.”
As it turned out, the truck fire might have been a blessing, because it saved the lives of the two construction workers.
McEldowney said that the NHRFR was able to do both things – fight the truck fire and rescue the two workers – simultaneously.
“We have enough manpower now to do more than one thing at a time,” McEldowney said. “We had the blackout, the power line, the truck fire and the men on the scaffold.”
River Road was closed to traffic for about two hours, while NHRFR firefighters worked to secure the scaffolding, before it was eventually lowered to the ground safely.
Even though both workers were wearing a safety harness and cable, it didn’t do any good once the scaffolding collapsed.
There were some reports that the scaffolding collapse might have had a cause to the downed power line, but those rumors were unsubstantiated by press time.
“I’m not real sure at this point, but I kind of doubt it,” McEldowney said. “I think it was just the high wind blowing the scaffolding around that caused it to collapse.”