According to WCBS, “The incident began at around 12:45 p.m. on the south side of the building. Initial reports suggested the washers were done cleaning the windows and were about to ascend to the top of the tower when the cable that pulls the scaffold up became loose.”
The workers were rescued after the FDNY broke a window and pulled the two to safety at around 2:15pmET.
WABC was nearing the end of its Noon news when it first reported the situation at 12:52. Anchors Ken Rosato and Lori Stokesdid a quick update, before returning to the story a few minutes later. The ABC owned station reported emergency workers were on the way to rescue one, possibly two, workers in the scaffolding dangling from the building.
CBS owned station WCBS broke into soap opera “The Young and the Restless” at 12:58. Chris Wragge anchored from the studio. The station aired a shot of the basket containing the window washers dangling from the building. Wragge let viewers know weather conditions had grounded the station chopper. He also said he was checking social media for more info before tossing to a phone interview with Glenn Corbett, who Wragge said is professor of Fire and Safety at John Jay College.
NBC owned station WNBC interrupted “Days of Our Lives” at 1:19 p.m.. Anchor Rob Schmitt tossed to a phoner with former FDNY commissioner Tom Von Essen to give viewers an idea of how the rescue was going to happen.
While WNBC, WABC and WCBS stayed on-air, FOX owned station WNYW had the most compact cut-in. Breaking into “Inside Edition” at 1:41 p.m., Ernie Anastos took one minute to update viewers. Anastos said the FDNY told the station the scaffolding was at the 69th floor on the south side of One World Trade Center. He told viewers the rescue plan was to cut through the glass to rescue the two trapped window washers before returning to regular programming.