Worker rescued from water tower

PAYNE, Ohio (WANE) -- - A man doing maintenance on a water tower in Payne, Ohio has been rescued after his safety harness broke early Tuesday afternoon, leaving him dangling in the air for more than an hour.

The man was doing subcontracting work for Comcast which has equipment on the tower. After his harness broke, another safety line kept him from falling to the ground.

"He was fairly calm," recalls Van Wert County Fire Chief Jim Steele. "Obviously, he wanted down and obviously he was cold and had been in that harness a long time."

Firefighters in Payne first responded. A ladder truck was brought in, but it was too short to reach the man. That's when the department enlisted help from the Van Wert County Fire Department.

A second ladder truck from Van Wert was brought in and it reached high enough to allow rescuers to bring the man to safety.

A team from that department trained in high angle rescue assisted with the rescue.

"We had our rope teams up on the catwalk of the water tower. They were able to lower rope down to him, secure him and lower him slowly into the basket," explains Steele.

As soon as the man was back on the ground, medics rushed him into a waiting ambulance.

He was taken to a Van Wert County Hospital to be treated for exposure after being in the cold weather for so long. He was later transferred to Parkview Hospital.

Other than exposure, firefighters say the man is in good condition. He was conscious during the entire rescue and early indications point to a quick recovery.

"He's down, he's doing good, he's talking," says Payne Fire Chief Dave Krouse.

It's a happy ending for a story that could have easily turned out quite differently.

"I'd say it's a lucky day for him, I don't think anyone plans to have that happen and obviously he didn't," says Steele. "He's fortunate there's resources in the area that could take care of that problem."