Orange County, NY – Kiryas Joel firefighters came to the rescue of two men today in Newburgh after a boom lift they were using malfunctioned, leaving them stranded 140 feet up in the air.
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The pair were testing out the equipment at United Rentals on Route 9W at approximately 7:30 AM this morning when things went awry, according to Kiryas Joel fire chief Shia Blumenfeld.
“A mutual aid call went out and we sent out a ladder truck with twelve men,” Blumenfeld told VIN News.
The KJ fire truck’s ladder only extended 135 feet in the air, leaving a five foot gap that needed to be bridged.
“We took a ladder and made a way for them out of the basket where they were stuck and they climbed down the ladder,” said Blumenfeld.
The two men were rescued at 11:30 AM.
According to reports on The Times Herald Record, efforts had been made to procure a larger ladder truck from Connecticut and that with the approach of inclement weather, rescuers were concerned about the possibility of a lightning strike. Newburgh police chief Michael Vatter said that attempts had been made to contact JLG, maker of the equipment who refused to supply rescuers with an override code that would have solved the problem.
“This whole thing could have been solved in 15 minutes, but the company wouldn’t give out the code because they said it wasn’t safe since there are people in it,” said Vatter, waving his arms in frustration.
Onlookers across the street could be seen clapping and cheering as the two men were lowered to safety.
Blumenfeld said that it is not uncommon for his crew to be called in on emergencies.
“We get mutual aid calls occasionally for firefighting or anything in the medical field in Orange County,” said Blumenfeld.
No one was available for comment at United Rentals.
Is there a video of this?
I major Kiddush Hashem. Maybe now all those kj bashers will realize that kj is good for somethings.
Nice kiddush Hashem, we need more of these!
Maybe all those people in Orange County who try to Stop the water pipeline to KJ will see this on the news they will have second thoughts about their neighbors who need the water so desperate…
KJ actually got in the news for doing something right!
Moshiach must be on his way!
There isn’t any video that I found, but recordonline.com is the site for the Times Herald Record quoted here and they have some pretty frightening looking pictures of the scene.