Indianapolis firefighters rescue work crew on Regions Tower

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis firefighters rescued three window glaziers Tuesday morning after the trio got stuck on a scaffold on the side of the Regions Tower downtown.

The Indianapolis Fire Department was sent to a rope rescue shortly before 10:05 p.m. Monday at the Regions Tower, 211 N. Pennsylvania St.

Three workers were trapped on a scaffold along the tower’s 19th floor when the steel cable used to raise and lower the 300-pound window slipped off the pulley shortly after 8 p.m., according to IFD Batallion Chief Rita Reith.

The workers spent about two hours trying to fix the cable and pulley before calling the fire department, Reith says.

Firefighters used a rope system to help the workers secure the window so they could lower it and the scaffold to the fifth-floor deck.

An IFD tactical crew was able to raise the window enough to release the tension on the cable and place it back over the pulley shortly before midnight, Reith says. Once the window was placed over the pulley, it was lowered to the fifth-floor deck.

The scaffold and window were secured safely on the fifth-floor deck just before 12:15 a.m., according to IFD.

“It was one of those things where we had to take time to do it because we didn’t want anything to happen,” Reith tells News 8.

The workers were checked out by Indianapolis EMS but no injuries were reported.

IFD says the three men have been in the window glazing business for years and are tasked with making repairs to the windows on Regions Tower once a year.

Police temporarily shut down traffic along Ohio and Pennsylvania Streets, including the sidewalk, due to potential falling glass.

Regions Tower is the third-tallest building in Indianapolis with 36 stories.