Two construction workers dangled Tuesday from a Daytona Beach building when scaffolding broke underneath them, leaving Daytona Beach firefighters with an unusual rescue on their hands.
The two men who fell from the building on South Atlantic Avenue have their harnesses to thank for keeping them from a six-story fall as they worked to renovate the Harbor Beach Resort.
The workers were about 60 feet in the air when the lift fell out from under them, leaving them dangling six floors above the ground, suspended by their safety harnesses. The workers could only hang on to one another as they waited for help.
"I just heard a bunch of crashing and I looked up and they were dangling from the roof," said eyewitness Jerry Thompson.
One of the support cables on the lift snapped, causing the floor to literally fall out from under them. The force slammed one worker's face against the wall. The other's leg was broken and slashed by the swinging metal lift.
Lt. Lorainne Becker was with the first unit to arrive. She leaned out of a window to try to steady and calm the men. She said she had to stop the man's bleeding while he swung in mid-air.
"We had to apply pressure dressing and apply an oxygen mask, just to keep him alert and oriented," she said.
Onlookers cheered as the men were finally hoisted through a fourth floor window. EMTs said the men were saved by their harnesses. Both men were taken to the Halifax Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
It is not known what caused the cable to snap. Inspectors from OSHA will take a look at the scaffold to make sure all safety precautions were in place.
