In a daunting incident, an Illinois maintenance worker found himself stuck for over six hours inside a 130-foot-tall gas station sign due to a malfunctioning lift.
The worker, identified as AJ Gow, was conducting maintenance on the massive sign located near Lorenzo Road off Interstate 55 in Wilmington on a Tuesday afternoon.
Emergency services were alerted at 1:55 p.m. when the Wilmington Fire District received a report of a worker trapped within an enclosed section of the sign, perched high on the sign pole.
“The telescopic boom lift used malfunctioned, and it was reported that the worker had been stuck in the elevated spot for approximately three hours,” explained the fire district officials in a social media update.
Rescue teams from the Wilmington Fire District sprung into action, climbing a boom lift to safely retrieve AJ Gow, the maintenance worker who had been ensnared in the sign perched on the towering 130-foot pole for hours on Tuesday. (Wilmington Fire District)
“The telescopic boom lift used by the worker had malfunctioned and Fire District personnel were told he had been at the elevated position for around 3 hours,” officials with the fire district said in a statement on social media.
Additionally, the sign pole had no stairs or ladders built into it, making it impossible for rescue teams to climb up without another lift, officials said.
Another problem was that the Wilmington Fire District’s trucks have ladders that only go 100 feet in the air, which meant Gow was 30 feet out of reach.
Eventually fire officials located another boom lift in the Joliet area, which is roughly 20 miles north of the rest stop. The lift was brought to the sign with an Illinois State Police escort, officials said.
AJ Gow, the worker, said he spent over six hours trapped in the interior of the sign after his lift malfunctioned. (Wilmington Fire District)
After the new lift was in place, firefighters were able to reach Gow and get him back to the ground, the fire district said.
Gow thanked all the first responders from different departments that came to his aid, saying that “seeing that lift roll up with police escorts was the highlight of my day for sure!!”
Gow later said on social media that he spent over six hours in a cramped position within the interior of the sign.
An aerial view of the sign AJ Gow was trapped in for more than six hours this week. (WFLD)
“I was too hot and thirsty to be anxious. I was moreso nauseous and dizzy. And incredibly uncomfortable to be in for over 6 hours. It was only 16″ wide and wasn’t even tall enough to stand fully upright either,” Gow wrote in response to someone commenting on the fire district’s post.
In another comment, Gow said the sign “kept swaying with the wind.”
Gow said that after he got down, he went to the hospital to be treated for dehydration. News Media reached out to Gow for comment.