An Illinois maintenance worker was trapped inside a 130-foot-tall gas station sign for around six-and-a-half hours – but still managed to give a thumbs-up despite the mishap.
The man was left stranded when his lift malfunctioned while he was carrying out work on the sign, located off Interstate 55 in Wilmington on Tuesday.
He ran into difficulty just before 11 a.m. and fire crews rushed to the scene around three hours later, according to Wilmington fire officials.
But the fire crews were equipped with ladders that were 100 feet tall, which prevented rescuers from reaching the worker who was sheltered in the narrow space.
“No ladders or stairs built into the sign pole were present, eliminating the possibility of rescue team personnel ascending to the victim’s location as would normally occur in a high angle rescue,” fire officials said.
Rescuers found a specialized lift in Joliet – around 17 miles away – and brought it to the scene so the worker could be brought to safety.
The dramatic rescue went viral online. A man who claimed to be the maintenance worker and identified himself as “AJ” praised fire officials for saving the day amid the flurry of reaction.
“Thank you to every department that showed up for me today,” AJ commented on Wilmington Fire’s Facebook page. “It was greatly appreciated! Seeing that lift roll up with police escorts was the highlight of my day for sure!!”
AJ shared a photo of himself standing on a platform inside the sign, telling one pal, “I was up there on this. Couldn’t fully stand either and it kept swaying with the wind. It was miserable.”
“I was up there for about 6 1/2 hours [in] total,” he said.
He said there was nowhere to sit comfortably inside the confined space.
Fire crews said the maintenance worker wasn’t injured – but AJ said he was suffering from symptoms of severe dehydration, which sparked his co-worker to call for the rescue, before he was transported to a hospital.
He has since changed his profile picture of himself giving a thumbs up to the WLS helicopter “Chopper 7,” which hovered over the scene.
“The news coverage at the end of the ordeal made it seem like it was a joyride,” he said.
“My adrenaline was pumping once I saw that lift arriving and [it] gave me a 2nd wind. After the adrenaline crash, I felt like crap all night and still do.”
The Post has reached out to Gow for comment.
