Gregory Shaver
Window washer John
Marks hangs on the side of the City Hall Annex, 800 Center St., Friday
morning May 4, 2012, after his gear malfunctioned as he was washing the
windows on the building. / Gregory Shaver
gregory.shaver@journaltimes.com/ Gregory Shaver gshaver@journaltimes.com
RACINE — Scott Nelson was looking outside the window of City Hall Annex, 800 Center St., Friday when he saw ropes and two feet dangling.
Nelson, who works for Car 25, the city’s video channel, then saw a fire truck down below and headed outside.
Above his window, a window washer was stuck suspended in the air four stories up. He had been
calling for help earlier to get people’s attention.
When firefighters arrived at about 10:30 a.m., the window washer gave them a thumbs up saying he was OK. But he was stuck.
Racine Firefighter Jim Zarbock climbed up an aerial truck ladder. When he got up there, he learned the man’s hoisting system was locked up and he needed weight lifted off it to help him rappel down from the top of the building. Standing on the ladder, Zarbock helped support the weight of the man, whom
Zarbock said identified himself as John Marks, 68.
But Marks didn’t let the incident shake him up too much. On the way back down, he went back to work cleaning windows.
When he reached the ground several minutes later, he didn’t want to talk about getting stuck. But when asked if it was frightening or if it was just a part of the day’s work, he said it was the latter.
“All in a day’s work,” Marks said.
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