Man was trying to ‘calm my guys down’ who got stuck 70 feet in air trying to repair billboard

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News was there as rescuers freed three billboard workers who were stranded nearly 70 feet in the air.

Those workers were on a lift, getting ready to make some repairs to a sign when their lift malfunctioned, and they found themselves stuck with no way of getting down.

“The moment you realized you’re not getting down, what went through your head?” Channel 2′s Michael Seiden asked Juan Agudelo, who was one of the stranded workers.

“I mean like trying to calm my guys down because they were stressed and I’m in charge of them,” Agudelo said.

Just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, Juan says he and two of his coworkers were on the lift preparing to make some repairs to a billboard along Northwest Expressway near Interstate 85 in DeKalb County when all of a sudden their equipment malfunctioned because they had too much weight.

It left them stranded more than 70 feet in the air.

“Usually when they’re overweight, it allows you to go down pretty slow but this one didn’t. They didn’t even have control from here, so we’ve been stuck for two hours and a half,” Agudelo said.

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Agudelo said he immediately called his boss who notified first responders.

“I told the guys, ‘If this takes forever, I’m just going to climb through the lift,’” Agudelo said.

DeKalb County Fire Rescue rushed to the scene, but firefighters faced some challenges.

The first ladder truck was unable to reach the men. Firefighters also had to be careful not to touch the powerlines.

Finally, they brought in a big truck equipped with a 100-foot ladder, firefighters were able to rescue the workers.

With less weight on the lift, Juan was able to lower it without any problems.

Minutes after Seiden with Juan, he was in a harness and headed back up to the billboard to finish the job.

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