Milwaukee County Courthouse scaffolding incident, 2 workers rescued
MILWAUKEE - Two workers were rescued after the scaffolding they were on partially collapsed and ended up in a precarious position at the top of the Milwaukee County Courthouse on Thursday, Oct. 10.
No one was hurt, which Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski says is the best possible conclusion to this story.
Two people were rescued from this scaffold that, as of sundown, is still hanging from an angle.
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FOX6 has been told that all the equipment has been double secured.
The Milwaukee Fire Department's Heavy Urban Rescue Team (HURT) did respond. They found two trapped people.
They were eventually able to lower a radio to have direct contact.
MFD was also able to quickly bring up a spanish speaking firefighter to bridge the language barrier.
Both workers were removed from the basket to the rooftop with no injuries.
The crew, that appeared to be with Bergland Construction, was working on the courthouse facade restoration project.
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Chief Lipski says his crews were ready to respond, but other workers were already in position with proper equipment to quickly save their coworkers.
"There was no fall there was no injury, even though the thing was canted like that, they had capable coworkers in place. I tell you what huge kudos to those folks for stepping on and starting. By the time we got here, they had started, they had started to put some of their extra equipment from topside in position to be able to help and that’s enormous," Lipski said.
As the investigation continues, the sheriff's office is blocking off this area to keep everyone safe.
County Executive David Crowley released a statement on the accident, saying:
"My office is aware of the incident that occurred today involving contractors who were working on a façade restoration project along the roof of the Milwaukee County Courthouse. I’m grateful for the swift action from our first responders in rescuing the individuals, and I’m pleased that no injuries occurred during this situation. The cause of the incident will be fully investigated before any work resumes. Safety is our number one priority, and we will be working to understand how this situation occurred to prevent incidents like this in the future."