Crime & Safety

Window Washers Rescued After Getting Stuck 5 Stories Up

Washers were stranded 60 feet in the air Monday at the Mack Cali III building on East Ridgewood Avenue.

Paramus police, fire and rescue responded to and successfully rescued a pair of window washers who were stuck on their scaffolding more than 60 feet above the parking lot of the Mack Cali III building on East Ridgewood Avenue on Monday. 

The scaffold began to tilt, broke a fifth story window and locked in place. The window washing rig has a safety mechanism that automatically locks when the scaffold begins to tilt.

The two window washers, a 45-year-old Parsippany man and a 36-year-old Union City man, were trapped five stories up.

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“Fire Department Chief Craig Hopkins established command and sent fire fighters to the fifth floor where the scaffold had broken a window in an office and Paramus Rescue Chief Joseph Hamlin established Operations on the roof level,” explained Paramus Rescue Squad Captain John Pecoraro

Paramus Rescue members immediately set up an anchor on the roof and secured the two workers with safety lines in the event the scaffold was compromised.

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A tower ladder from Oradell F.D. was raised and the bucket placed next two the scaffold. The two workers were successfully rescued and no one was hurt. 


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