HFD firefighters save construction workers dangling on high rise platform

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Fire Department high rise rescue team saved two construction workers who were stuck on a dangling platform that had collapsed outside a building in the Washington Avenue area.



Firefighters were called to 3131 Memorial Ct. shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday for a report of workers stranded on a platform.

Officials said the workers were resurfacing the facade of the high rise when the scaffolding failed.

Thankfully, the workers had on safety harnesses.

Firefighters went to the 15th floor, broke a window and pulled them inside.

One resident recalled looking out her window and seeing a construction hat falling. That's when she knew something was wrong.

"I held a sign out the window, and I said, 'Help is on the way. We're praying for you,'" she told ABC13's Deborah Wrigley. "I held up my hand like, 'Thumbs up, thumbs down. Are you okay?' They did thumbs up, and I was, like, waving at them. I was trying to let them know someone was there, someone is going to help them out."

The whole rescue took about an hour.

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