By Jake Goodrick
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two workers were rescued by emergency crews Wednesday after they were left dangling outside the upper floors of an eight-story midtown high-rise at 15th and Q streets.
Firefighters responded to 1430 Q St. — the mass-timber complex with ground-floor businesses — after receiving an emergency call at 9:14 a.m., Sacramento Fire Department spokesperson Capt. Justin Sylvia said.
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A Bee journalist at the scene just after 10:15 a.m. saw both of the workers rescued to safety. Sylvia confirmed that both workers were rescued and did not have injuries.
“They’re both safely on the ground, doing OK,” Fire Chief Chris Costamagna told reporters. “Probably a little sore, but nothing that they won’t get over by tomorrow, I’m sure.”
Sylvia said the scaffolding supporting the workers collapsed on one side, leaving it tilted at a roughly 45-degree angle.
“It looks like one end of their scaffolding had some type of failure that went down,” he said.
The workers were installing a protective netting on the side of the building when the scaffolding malfunctioned, Costamagna said, with authorities suspecting an issue with either the motor or braking system.
One worker was stranded on the tilted scaffolding while the other hung in the air from a safety harness attached to the building.
The special rescue team made access to the roof to reach the workers from above, descending to the workers mid-air and hooking each into a rescuer’s rope-and-harness system, Costamagna said. The men reached the ground a little more than an hour after the emergency call was made.
“It’s an infrequent rescue, so there’s a lot of complications in it,” Costamagna said.
Firefighters worked with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to shut off power to electrical lines before hoisting down to the men.
“We train for this all the time,” Sylvia said. “Our special rescue firefighters, they do all kinds of rope rescues.”
Costamagna said 15th Street would likely remain closed for several hours until the scaffolding company lowered it to the ground.
The building, known as 1430 Q, was completed in 2020 and is uniquely one of the tallest cross-laminated timber high-rises in the U.S.
The incident was expected to be reviewed by Cal-OSHA, the state’s occupational safety agency.
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