Fire crews rescue window cleaners from Vancouver skyscraper

Firefighters rescued a pair of window cleaners stranded halfway up on the uniquely angular Deloitte building at the corner of West Georgia and Homer streets in Vancouver Thursday afternoon.

Vancouver Fire and Rescue spokesperson Matthew Trudeau said the cleaners were stuck on a platform due to mechanical issues.

Neither cleaner was injured.

Trudeau said the call came in around 1:45. p.m. Initial reports were the scaffolding aparatus’s motor would not work so the cleaners could not raise or lower themselves. He said there was no apparent damage to the motor.

Trudeau said crews rappelled down to the cleaners and used ropes to lower the workers down one floor. From there, there was an open outdoor space where they could walk into the building’s interior.

He said the angular faces of the irregularly shaped skyscraper — which looks a bit like a Rubik’s cube with its sides being spun horizontally — added a wrinkle to the work.

“It is a bit more challenging just navigating the different floors,” Trudeau said. “Definitely unique exterior faces.”

He said it was a high-risk maneuver with many technical aspects. The last time Vancouver fire crews had to rescue a window cleaner was in August 2022, when one got stuck on the side of the Nordstrom building. 

He said crews expected to be on scene for a bit longer to make sure the cleaners’ apparatus was no longer a danger.

The rescue itself took about an hour, he said.

A spokesperson for WorkSafeBC said in a statement that the workplace safety agency is “aware of the incident, and we are currently looking into it.”