Rope team rescues unconscious worker stranded on scaffold in Pittsburgh's North Side

A five-person rope team rescued a worker who collapsed Friday afternoon on a scaffold wedged between two buildings in Pittsburgh’s North Side, officials said.

Shortly after 3 p.m., medics and firefighters responded to the report of the unconscious man stranded about 40 feet high in the 1300 block of Franklin Street in the city’s Manchester neighborhood, Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said.

Officials learned that the man “had suffered some type of medical episode” while on the platform. He was part of a crew doing masonry work between the buildings, which were about three feet apart, Cruz said. Officials did not specify what the medical episode was.

After medics arrived, the man regained consciousness but was not able to move, Cruz said.

To get him down, the rescue team used what Cruz described as “an elaborate rope-and-pulley system. Once rescuers got to the platform, they placed the man in a harness.

“They could not bring him through the ends of the scaffolding or get him up to the roof,” Cruz said. “The five rescuers had to use the little space there was between the buildings and the scaffolding to lower him 40 feet to the ground.”

The man was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition, according to Cruz. Officials did not identify him.

The rescue operation took about an hour.