Submitted by Olympia Fire Department
Olympia Firefighters responded to a report of a fallen window washer just before 10:00 on July 17, 2014. Two window washers were working on the back side of the Capitol Terrace Apartments, a six floor complex at 1517 Capitol Way south in Olympia, just up from the capitol Campus.
The first arriving unit, Olympia Ladder Truck found two window washers, believed to be from Ace Window Cleaning, hanging from their safety lines on the back of the building. One window washer was bleeding from the head.
Three Olympia Firefighter crews immediately went to work on the rescue. One crew accessed the patient through a window on the fifth floor. A second crew went to the roof to assure that the safety lines would continue to hold the window washers and their malfunctioning window washing platform. A third crew carefully moved the articulated ladder truck into the narrow alleyway behind the building and extended the ladder up to the window washers.
Crews assisted the first window washer out of their tangled equipment and down the ladder. This person was treated for a head laceration and transported to the hospital. The second window washer was then helped down the ladder. He was uninjured.
Olympia Fire Department responded with one engine, one ladder truck, a medic unit, and a command unit. The County Special Operations and Rescue Team (SORT) was dispatched but not needed. There were no injuries to any of the firefighters during the rescue.
Olympia Fire Department remained on scene until a representative from the state of Washington Department of Labor and Industries arrived.
