Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Two Window Washers Trapped On Scaffolding Outside World Trade Center

Aired November 12, 2014 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Happening as we speak, outside of New York City's World Trade Center, 69 floors off the ground, at least two window washers trapped on scaffolding that is dangling outside of the tower's windows. CNN producer Shimon Prokupecz joining me now on the phone to talk about this.

Shimon, this is a very difficult situation because you have -- it appears two guys who are stuck and while luckily we're hearing their tethered, we really don't know how authorities are going to get them down, right?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Right. And that's the big issue. I mean they've already - they've tried to cut through the glass and what you'll see is that there's a second scaffolding that's being lowered. And the reason they're doing that is because the glass is just too thick for them to cut through. Their plan was to cut through the glass. They cut through one layer. They were now attempting to cut through a second layer and realized that it was too thick. So now they're trying to lower a second scaffolding to try and see if they could do the rescue that way.

You know, remember, this building is very, very new. This glass is very, very new. And some of it's just - the security, it's been reinforced quite a lot. There's a lot of just different layers of security around the building and the glass is probably thicker than what officials are used to and so now, you know, they're realizing they can't get through glass and -

KEILAR: Yes, and they're - and they're trying to figure - Shimon, just a second, because we actually have -- let's put that picture back up. This is a picture from Twitter that is from the inside of the building, which is what the inside of this very new building, as we've been paying attention to it recently, and this is the scene as these two window washers are stuck inside of this apparatus. Shimon, how did this happen?

PROKUPECZ: Well, what happened was - well, I was told that the workers were on their way back up to the building when the cable snapped on the scaffolding. And it snapped and it caused it to sort of fall to the side and the workers were stuck and then, you know, they called 911.

The two workers, you know, are tethered. They're tied to the scaffolding. They don't believe they're in danger. They've been communicating with the rescue workers, with the fire department and the police department. So they think they're OK. They know they're OK. But exactly why and how this happened, they don't know for sure. They just know that, you know, something snapped and the cable snapped and caused it to sort of malfunction.

KEILAR: And who is saying - I mean of course, you know, our hope here is that everything is fine, but you worry because they are just dangling now from one cable or a set of cables on one side of this scaffolding. Who's saying that they believe that they're fine? And are they telling us why they believe that this scaffolding's going to hold?

PROKUPECZ: Well, two different places. The fire department told us that there were no - they weren't injured, that they were tethered. And also the - you know, the NYPD is there assisting and sort of conducting some of the rescue. And also I was told that the scaffolding company is on scene and watching and they've told officials that, you know, just because they know this machinery, they know the device, they don't believe it's in danger of falling.

KEILAR: Are they communicating with these workers, do we know, Shimon?

PROKUPECZ: Yes, I was told they are. They are talking to them through a radio that they somehow lowered to them. Initially I was told that it was lowered through like either a glass or some sort of form. They somehow got a radio to them and have been able to talk to them through that.

KEILAR: OK, Shimon, stay with us.

I'm going to bring in Chad Myers. He is watching this as well.

Chad, this is a very scary situation. I'd say probably some - maybe some of the good news here would be weather conditions here in New York today. We haven't seen a lot of wind. But certainly we don't really know why this even happened.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, certainly, Brianna. I mean we're looking at southwest winds six to seven miles per hour even at that height.

Let me give you an idea of where they are. That is the scaffolding on a very wide shot. That's how far they are from the top and how far they are from the bottom, so right in the middle of the tower at this point. Even winds at that height would only be about 10 to 15 miles per hour. If this would be to be a very gusty day, these guys would be in much more danger as the thing's swinging around. But they don't put those baskets down on windy days. So that's the other thing.

Something else I want to mention is how this basket is orientated. It's like this. It's kind of on an angle rather than like this. And this is how the attachment points happen. They don't attach on the end and the end because if one would break, the entire thing would fall straight down at almost a 90-degree angle. They attach at about 30 percent here and 30 percent here. So when it does dangle, it dangles like this and it gives them a chance. Now, understand, these men are attached to this basket. They never had

a chance of falling out. They are clipped on. They are harnessed in. The thing is, and just like a jet plane has two jets, a jet can fly with one jet. This can dangle for a long time, pretty much forever, on just one cable. It's redundancy, if you will, that one cable is strong enough to hold it. But the good news is, they're lowering another basket either to get those guys into the basket and back up or to reattach another line to the other side and get it straightened back up and bring it back up to the top, Brianna.

KEILAR: And so as they do that, I mean, so the idea then that we're expecting, Chad, is they lower this other basket and these two men will have to get in -- they'll have to untether themselves from the one that they're in and they'll have to get into the other one, which that seems pretty perilous, or there is a way hopefully to re-secure the line here. But we don't know exactly how this is playing out.

MYERS: The harness that the men are wearing should have two tethers, just like you're going down a zip line.

KEILAR: OK.

MYERS: That means you're crawling up the zip line or going from one zip line to the other, you can't take both of the clips off at one time. You take one off, you clip it to the other side. You take this one off, you clip it to the other side. So there will always be some redundancy on that harness as well.

I think what we're seeing right now is plan b because of what the -- the other official was just telling you that they couldn't get through the glass. The first way - the plan a was to cut through the glass, bring the glass inside, bring the men inside right there at that level and that didn't happen because the glass was just too thick. This is a matter of wind resistance, this is a matter of weather related, and this is a matter of new building codes that we have in place with this building or any building built for that matter. The glass is very heavy. It's very thick. And that's why they couldn't cut through it, or at least they felt that they couldn't cut through it soon enough or efficiently enough and that other basket is on its way down.

I wish we could get a tilt up on the camera at some point in time so that we could see where that other basket was because we had a reporter from the Millennium Hotel, not that far away, saying it was about two floors down. Then about five minutes later, it was five floors down. So it's making good progress. It's on its day down, I assume. If that static camera is going to stay right there, we'll see the next basket come down from the top rather soon.

KEILAR: So it's on its way. We'll be, obviously, following the -- its path down. It's slow but sure. And we're also, you said, plan a, plan b. There is possibly another plan, a plan c -

MYERS: Oh, sure.

KEILAR: That firefighters were told by the fire department there's the possibility of repelling down the side of the building to pull the workers to safety. Hopefully that isn't going to play out and they can just do this by lowering another one of these scaffolding baskets.

Stick with me, Chad.

MYERS: I will.

KEILAR: I want to bring in Mike Brooks. And jump in here, Chad, as we talk to Mike about this. He's a CNN law enforcement analyst.

Mike, talk about this. This is something obviously you have the fire department dealing with this. You have the New York Police Department dealing with this. This is a very serious situation but also a very rare one. How do they approach this and they're already sort of running into problems. How do they get past that and make sure that these two men are safely on the ground?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Well, you know, Brianna, this is something they actually deal with on a regular basis in New York City because of the amount of high-rise buildings. But this is the first time, I believe, that they're dealing with something like this on the new World Trade Center. And, you know, as I was calling it before, that other scaffolding, the fire department is calling, my sources are telling me, they're calling it a rescue scaffolding. So that is their plan b.

As Shimon was saying, you know, the original plan was to try to cut through and I know the folks - the people very well from (INAUDIBLE) Company 118 (ph) with the New York City Fire Department. They have equipment that's capable of doing that, but maybe with this new glass, as Chad was pointing out, and the new building codes, it was tough getting through that outer pane of glass so now they've stopped to go with the rescue scaffolding, with two members of the fire department.

KEILAR: Yes.

BROOKS: You know, you also have FD - you also have NYPD, their emergency services unit, which, you know, you've got two of the best agencies to deal with high angle rescues probably anywhere in the world, Brianna.

KEILAR: And, you know what, Mike - Mike, stay with me. I'm sorry to interrupt you. Stay with me just for a moment because I want to listen in live. We have WABC, our affiliate here in New York, that is covering this live as well. Let's listen in to their air as they cover this story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixty-eight floors here on One World Trade Center. So that's the latest here live at the scene. Back to you guys in the studio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rob, I was going to ask you about that because as we were showing your live shot right there, you could see some people kind of beginning to gather behind you. What is the mood down there as people are sitting here watching this drama unfold?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that's probably the best word, drama. People are - we had several folks come right by where we are right now saying, what's going on? The word has spread, as you can imagine, through the media, as to what's going on. So people coming out of their office buildings, people walking by, doing whatever and stopping and snapping pictures and kind of asking us what is going on. And we tell them, workers trapped up there at 67 floors, they kind of get this look on their face like, oh my God.

KEILAR: All right, we are looking now at a wider shot of this. You can see here, this is on the 69th floor of the Freedom Tower where this scaffolding is stuck. Two workers inside of that scaffolding, tethered to it, not tethered separately, tethered to it, they are uninjured. That is very good news. And this rescue effort to grab them underway.

Let's go to CNN producer Shimon Prokupecz.

Shimon, you have some new information. What's going on?

PROKUPECZ: Yes. So, you know, this is a major, major rescue operation now and so basically the plan at this point is, they're going to lower the second scaffolding, try to get one worker on at a, you know, and then bring it - bring it up and then come back and get the second worker. So their plan is to do it separately. And, you know, so it's going to be a combination of Port Authority Police and the New York Police who are going to, you know, load - who are on that rescue scaffolding, are going to come down to this - to the - to the collapsed scaffolding and try to get one worker, bring him up, and then get the second -- come back down, get the second worker and come back up. So that is the plan in terms of how they're going to do the operation.

KEILAR: So do you know when they - when they bring down the scaffolding that they're using in the rescue, is it just one person who is in that to help obviously one of these two men? Is it a weight issue? Is that why they're bring them up separately?

PROKUPECZ: Yes, it's a weight issue and also if something goes wrong, you know, you don't want to have, you know, five people, let's say, stuck on something. You'd rather, you know, have three. So it's a safety issue. It's a weight issue. You know, and it's pretty - I mean they already have three rescue workers, it sounds like, on the one scaffolding and they don't want to sort of, you know, put too many people into one scaffolding.

BANFIELD: Yes. Yes, that makes sense. And we're actually getting a shot now that is wider as we're talking to Shimon here. There is another scaffolding toward the top of the Freedom Tower. As we heard Shimon reporting, they were trying, the authorities, the fire department was trying to cut the glass and try to get to the men there on the 69th floor, but they were unable to do that. That turned out to just be too difficult. They had two layers of glass. The glass was very thick. Plan a scrapped and now they're on to plan b, which is bringing down another scaffolding.

We are waiting to see it come into view here. And they're doing it sort of - sort of slow - slow and steady. And we want to listen back in now to our affiliate WABC also covering this story. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you can imagine, folks have gathered all around

this corner. Word has spread very quickly as to what's going on here. And people are just coming by, snapping pictures, asking us what's going on. We're trying to give them the latest. But right now just all eyes 68 floors here on One World Trade Center. So that's the latest here live at the scene. Back to you guys in the studio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rob, I was going to ask you about that because as we were showing your live shot right there, you could see some people kind of beginning to gather behind you. What is the mood down there as people are sitting here watch this drama unfold?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that's probably the best word, drama. People are - we've had several folks come right by where we are right now saying, what's going on. The word has spread, as you can imagine, through the media as to what's going on. So people coming out of their office buildings, people walking by, doing whatever and stopping and snapping pictures and kind of asking us what's going on? And we tell them, there are workers trapped up there 68 floors, they kind of get this look on their face like, oh my God.

KEILAR: All right, we are -- we are having some issues with our signal coming from WABC, but we will continue to be listening in as we get that up and running.

Here's the recap of what's going on here. This is scaffolding hanging off of One World Trade Center. There are two workers who are inside of this. One of the cables attached to one side of this apparatus snapped. And since then, these two men have been tethered inside of this scaffolding and essentially dangling there.

Now, we - and we're actually watching that scaffolding move. What we understand now is a second scaffolding, which you see on the left side of your screen, is being lowered. This is a process that is happening slowly. There are, we're told by our producer Shimon Prokupecz, there are three rescue workers in that scaffolding. They are going to go down. It's almost about half the height of this building, to pick up these two workers individually, bring one back up, go back down again, get the other. This is plan b because plan a was to cut the glass of this building and it turned out that it was too thick and so that's -- that plan had to be aborted and they've moved on to this other rescue attempt.

Chad, you were looking at this. Foggy day here in New York. There's some precipitation. How does that play into this and also, as you're looking at these pictures on the right here, we're seeing a little movement in the scaffolding. What do you make of that?

MYERS: That's the 10 to 15 miles per hour we were talking about because, obviously, the higher you get on the building, the higher the wind --

KEILAR: And, also, Chad, do you see - I think you can - I think you can see the - you can see the workers actually inside of the apparatus -

MYERS: Oh, absolutely.

KEILAR: Which we weren't seeing before. So you're --

MYERS: No. You can see them moving around.

KEILAR: It's the wind that is sort of shifting the scaffolding away.

MYERS: And if you were in New York City this morning, you would wake up and look out and see nothing because it was so foggy. You don't get fog like that unless the winds are very calm. So this was a perfect day for the men to be on that building. A very calm day.

Now, as the day goes on, you get mixing in the atmosphere, a wind down to 7 miles per hour --

MCGUIRK: Chad -- Chad, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry to interrupt you. I just want to - I want to talk to you about this because as we understand actually, we'd said they'd scrapped plan a. They have been able to cut through the glass and that is what we are seeing right now I believe. Is that correct? Is that what we're seeing? These are the men escaping -- is that correct? Did we confirm that?

OK. So we are told that the authorities inside of the building were able to cut the window and that they are rescuing the men. So that's what we're looking at, Chad, that movement.

MYERS: I can see a dark spot or what appears to be window missing and so that's where I think they're probably going down to. You can see the men, they were at the top of that scaffold, now they're working their way down to the bottom because that is where the hole -- at least what I anticipate to be a hole in the glass. There's a better shot of it right there. Certainly the glass is missing at that point. That's where they broke through the glass and likely pulled it back in.

Mike Brooks was talking about the suction cups. They'd be holding onto the glass as they were cutting it to not let it fall onto the ground down below. But that ground down below was completely evacuated. Even if something did fall in the way of glass, there would be nobody down there. NYPD, FDNY completely cleared that. Now you see the men working their way down the basket and into that hole that they cut in right there. There's the dramatic moment right there, Brianna.

KEILAR: Entering the building. Let's bring in Mike Brooks, CNN law enforcement analyst.

This is amazing. I mean, Mike, I cannot imagine going through something like this 69 floors up off the ground and having a rescue like this. How are they making sure that these men are secure as they go in?

BROOKS: Brianna, they train for this all the time, I guarantee you, because I have some very good friends on Rescue Company One and Squad 18. They train for this on a regular basis. And right after I got off the phone to you last time, I was called back - one of my sources called me back and said, no, we are still trying to cut through. It's very, very thick. And as you see, in the meantime, they have cut through. And as soon as I saw someone with a fire helmet on, it -- that was - that was proof positive that they had, in fact, cut through that thick, thick multilayered glass there in One World Trade Center.

KEILAR: And we're actually seeing what looks like a little -- part of that glass. You can see there on the left side of the hole.

We're trying to figure out exactly -- you saw a man with a helmet, Mike. Did you believe that was one of the workers that was on the scaffolding or was that a rescue worker who had gone out to get one of those men?

BROOKS: It looked like to me, as a former fire chief, it looked like a firefighter's helmet to me when they first came through after they - after they got the hole cut. It looked like a fire helmet to me, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. And we're looking now - we've got another shot from our affiliate, from our ABC affiliate here, WABC here in New York. And you are seeing a firefighter indeed inside of the building. The hole that they have cut appears to be the size really just the height of -- the average height of a man and I -- we're trying to make out, have they been able to definitely get the second worker off of the scaffolding? We can't confirm at this point. They're still working on something.

Let's listen in to our affiliate WABC.

BROOKS: It looks to me like they have.

KEILAR: Yes, it looks like they have. We haven't confirmed that. Let's listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's probably the way we would go in a large building like that. I mean, I've done them up to the 50th floor on like a 70-story building and it was still better to go, you know, that route rather than to lower someone from the roof, as we previously - you know, previously we would just rig up and repel down from the roof or be lowered down from the roof, but then we'd have to lower them all the way to the ground or pull them back up. So opening and cutting through these windows, which is a new technique.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know that's - that's only been around for -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And at that height.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right, and at that height.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And at that height and controlling the glass so there's no further - there's no collateral damage to anybody or anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. Robert, where have -- what's happening right now with the workers who are inside the building? What is the protocol? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, right now they're probably being evaluated by

EMS for any injuries. You know, there could be a trauma injury when the scaffolding broke. What happens is, most of the time they're on a safety line but sometimes they'll get a trauma or a suspension trauma or some sort of issue with them being caught on a rope and they're being evaluated for that and then they'll be given medical attention if there's an injury, and I'm sure there is some injuries, and they will be evaluated -- taken care of that way. And our firefighters will secure the area, secure the window. Remove any additional glass that might have been broken -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And secure their equipment and basically - and go back in service for another fire or rescue operation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Captain (ph), hang on there for a bit. We've got to go down to the ground and hear what the eyewitnesses have to say about this and get reaction from people who have just been sitting on the edge or just watching this from the very moment it began.

Michelle Charlesworth (ph) is talking to some eyewitnesses.

Michelle, what can you tell me? What are people saying?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, a lot of the eyewitnesses down here have been working construction for years. Anthony and Robert, come on over and talk to me. You guys have been down here. We are directly -- I'll show you where we are. We are directly below the scaffold here on West Street, literally watching this whole thing unfold. We watched as the second rescue basket was being positioned to come down.

Anthony, tell me, you've worked in construction for 30 years and now you're an eyewitness to this. What are your thoughts?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that this is very shocking because usually I work on elevators throughout New York and I worked in the Empire State Building and Chrysler building. This is very unusual because it's outside the building. And it's a little bit more precarious because they can't get these guys back into the building. It's 40 stories below the top. So this is a tough situation. I hope that they went through this protocol before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seemed like they were kind of questioning everything they're doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you say that the pane right there is about two inches thick. It's safety glass.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it has to be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It weighs about 1,000 pounds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least, yes, at least. There's no way they could break that glass. It's not going to come out so easy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you were glad to see that second safety basket as a backup headed down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But we don't see that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we don't see that. So it seemed like to me they're stumbling, which this should not happen in New York. We should have a real, you know, emergency situation rectified right away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you say the cables -- it's not a situation where - it's a situation where if the fall begins to happen, they immediately stop. There is a backup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Exactly. Oh, yes, that -- there's a slippage sensor that would stop it instantly. But, you know, it seemed like in this situation, something slipped but the thing is, to get these guys out of there before something else happens.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are your thoughts - your thoughts as an expert but as a human being watching this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is scary. I can only imagine if, you know, the worst scenario. But I'm not even thinking about that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just hoping for the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hoping for the best, yes. I hope they send a basket down to save them. Whether it was a helicopter that could send a basket down or the scaffolding, the original rig, could send a basket.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you and me and Robert, all of our eyes and our hopes skyward -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As we watch this. Back to you in the studio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, it has been a very dramatic rescue that we have watched unfold on our air all afternoon. Again, two rescue workers just -- to workers just rescued by FDNY after they had been dangling off the 68th, 69th floor of One World Trade. A big question about how this rescue was going to unfold. The firefighters managing to break through the thick pane glass of the 69th floor to pull those workers inside. They are now inside and safe. And I think a collective cheer from the city of New York as they have watched this unfold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. It started at 12:50, ended at about 2:15. Word was -- that we originally got was that the workers on that scaffolding seemed to be OK. They were in constant communication. But as we just heard from the retired captain, of course they will be checked out to make sure they don't have any other further injuries from just the ordeal of hanging inside that scaffold. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KEILAR: All right, we're actually going to head to our reporter who is on the ground and joining us by phone. Miguel Marquez.

Miguel, it's interesting. We were just listening in to our affiliate's reporting and folks on the ground, they are so far below this. This is how high this whole rescue operation has been. They didn't even realize, as we can see from the aerials, that these two workers had been rescued. What are you hearing from people there on the ground?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, I mean, everybody is just staring up at this building, not sure what to make of it all. You come downtown Manhattan, I actually rode my bike down west side Manhattan, you can't see it from the northern part of Manhattan. It's on the south side of the building. So all of the police and the media helicopters are up over the building. Everybody in this area is just staring up at the sky right now not quite sure what to make of it because you cannot see the hole that they have opened up. You just see this thing hanging at a precipitous angle off of the building. You can see the structure that it's connected to all the way to the top. Everything seems (INAUDIBLE) solid, but clearly people are staring up at this thing still not entirely sure what's happening up there.

KEILAR: Have crowds gathered to look? Do they -- are people just starting to realize what's been going on?

MARQUEZ: Yes. Well, with all the helicopters, they've been - they've been staring for quite some time. But I'm in a park area right next to the Hudson River that has a perfect sort of view of the tower and people have just stopped along the side here, you know, television cameras, workers coming out from Wall Street and others who are just staring up at this building wondering what in the world is going on down there - or up there.

KEILAR: And of course this is a beautiful building that just opened last week in the place where the twin towers once stood. This is something that has been dominating the lower Manhattan skyline for some time. But it's recently been in the news because it just reopened. And I think it's a source of pride for many people in New York, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Everything that happens with this building will be picked apart and watched and great care will be given to everything that happens with this entire area. You're absolutely right. It just opened a week ago. It started taking on people. So they were clearly sprucing it up, getting ready as it went through a very long construction period. You know, it replaced the twin towers. Flying in last night, you could see it above the clouds of Manhattan. It's once again sort of a compass needle at the base of Manhattan because it's already become an icon here. So that alone puts it in a different category. The fact, you know, the history that it has because of the 9/11 attacks and everything that happens with this building people get hyper focused on and this is yet another small chapter thankfully if these guys are OK of this building, but it's certainly something that people will talk about over the dinner table tonight.

KEILAR: Oh, certainly. And that's - and that's our hope, of course, that these two men are all right. But it does seem that they were able to get off the scaffolding using, obviously, their own power, which is a very good sign. There could, of course, be some injuries and we're hoping there are none. We're hoping that they're minor just from the scaffolding there taking a little bit of a plunge.

Stay with me, Miguel. I do want to bring in Chad Myers.

And, Chad, it sort of seems like we're getting some blue sky there as we watch this - as we watch this happen. But there were really kind of two operations going on at once, which is good news. It makes total sense, that they were continuing to try to cut through the glass, while also getting ready to lower down scaffolding. As you look at this, what are - what are some of your thoughts here for a rescue that appears to have gone very successfully at this point.

MYERS: You know, my final thought was looking at the outer pane of glass as it was removed from the building. It sure, from that zoomed in shot, looked like shards were all the way through, almost in a round hole, just proving that even once they got a lot of it cut, like scoring it and scoring it, that they really did have to use a lot of force to break it. And when they did break it, it didn't break in a perfect circle. There were shards of glass and I'm certain that there are probably some shards of glass at the base of the building. So I want people that are around there to be careful about that too because even with a wind of 10 miles per hour, that glass could go in other places that we didn't expect it.

But a great rescue exactly as it was planned and I'm glad that second basket never even had to get down there.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. And it seemed like if it was going to, it was going to be taking a lot of time. But we're very thankful that this seems to have resolved itself rather quickly.

I do, though, want to talk about sort of the risks of this, which this has highlighted, with Shirley Aldebol, the vice president of the Window Washers Union.

Shirley, where are you right now?

SHIRLEY ALDEBOL, VICE PRESIDENT, WINDOW WASHERS UNION: I'm actually in my office right now. I have two - I have two of our folks are union reps down there. Actually the-- one of the directors of the - our window cleaning division is down there with the guys as the rescue was happening.

KEILAR: And so are these guys - they're represented by your union?

ALDEBOL: Yes, they're represented by Local 32BJSCIU (ph).

KEILAR: OK. And so talk about this because, you know, we've heard other people in law enforcement talk about how this is something they respond to often, actually, that there are problems like this. But this is something entirely different because of the building that it's on, because of how high up off the ground this incident and this rescue were.

ALDEBOL: Well, I -- you know - you know, luckily this is an unusual situation where something like this happens. I mean our window cleaners basically climb the sides of these skyscrapers every day, and, you know, generally without incident. And, you know, they are, you know, trained in, you know, the highest level of safety - safety, the usage of safety equipment. So, you know, luckily, because of that, you know, a tragedy was really averted here today.

KEILAR: What was your thought when you saw that this had happened? What was your first thought and how serious were your concerns about the safety of these two men?