2 Men Rescued In Dramatic Crane Rescue Atop New Jersey Church
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Authorities rescued two workers Thursday afternoon that were stuck in a construction bucket about 8 stories high near a church in Morristown.
Two men were doing repair work on the steeple of the United Methodist Church on South Park Place when "somehow" the cherry picker that was holding their construction bucket "got off track," according to the church's administrative assistant, Mona Lindemann.
Both workers had been stuck since around 2 p.m. before they were brought down to the ground in a cage connected to a large crane around 4:35 p.m. They apparently called for help from their cell phones.
Firefighter DJ Brightly was the first to take their hand.
"They were just glad to see us. One of them said he's be up there since 10:30 in the morning and wanted to get down," Brightly said.
Lindemann said the men were working for a company hired to do some repair work on the church's steeple.
Firefighters tried to use 2 ladders to bring the men to safety, but both were too short to reach them. A state police helicopter was also on standby in case the crane wasn't able to do the job.
"I said a lot of prayers. I said prayers when they got down, I said prayers for the fire company. But these guys are used to be on top, they're used to being way up high and so they didn't panic," said church Pastor Neill Tollboom.
Police were able to use another larger crane to pull the men back to safety in what CBS 2's Derricke Dennis described as an "incredibly daring and dangerous rescue."
Dennis reported that the men were being interviewed by the Fire Department and OSHA and that they had no reported injuries.
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