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Crews rescue workers after scaffold breaks at South Florida condo

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — Two men working at a South Florida condominium were rescued Wednesday after the scaffold they were on partially broke, leaving them suspended by their harnesses about 70 feet above the ground, authorities said.

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The workers were on the east side of the Hemispheres Condominium in Hallandale Beach when a cable that supported their scaffold broke while they were near the sixth floor, Broward County Sheriff’s Office Fire Rescue Chief Michael Kane told the Sun-Sentinel.

The scaffold, which broke about 3 p.m. EST, was left hanging at an angle, the newspaper reported.

A board member of the condominium’s homeowners association told WSVN that the men were doing restoration work on the building that is part of a multimillion-dollar project.

Fire rescue crews spent nearly an hour trying to decide whether they should raise a ladder truck with a bucket or lower rescuers to them from the roof, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The men were unable to move without the working scaffold, Kane told the newspaper.

A Broward County firefighter was able to rappel down from the roof to rescue one of the workers at 4:20 p.m. EST, according to WSVN. The second worker was rescued via a ladder truck 10 minutes later, the television station reported.