Cleaning job has its ups and downs — then doesn’t
Staff writer
When Durham resident Larry Schafer of L&L Cleaning was cleaning the MB Foundation building Sunday evening, he wasn’t planning to spend an hour between the building’s two floors.
Luckily, Fire Chief Ben Steketee said, Schafer remained calm and patient as firefighters figured out how to get him out of a stuck elevator.
An equipment malfunction was the cause of the incident, Steketee said.
Firefighters were able to get the elevator door to open using a key, but Schafer couldn’t crawl out from either the top or the bottom of the door.
“We ended up using our rescue struts and lifted the elevator up just enough so he could climb out,” Steketee said. “The fortunate thing is, he’s not claustrophobic. He was not panicking.”
If Schafer had been in an emergency state, firefighters would not have been able to release him without damaging the elevator.
“We were able to take our time,” Steketee said. “He wasn’t in a state where we had to get him out quickly. He was very calm, and we were able to talk to him.”
Steketee said Schafer was thankful for getting out of the elevator but felt badly about being stuck.
MB Foundation notified the fire department that an elevator technician checked out the elevator Monday.
Firefighters met the technician and were able to find out that using the struts had caused no damage.
The technician also showed firefighters which switches in a panel controlled what.
Every elevator has a brake release that releases the car slowly so it doesn’t immediately drop, the technician told them.
“Since I’ve been fire chief, this is only the second elevator rescue I’ve done,” Steketee said.
The first, years ago, involved rescuing his oldest daughter from an old elevator at Main Street Ministries.
Twelve firefighters worked on freeing Schafer, Steketee said. Some of them had been at a Tabor College parking lot spraying down Tabor students after a color war party.
Assistant Police Chief Randy Brazil also was there as were employees of the MB Foundation, Steketee said.