2 window washers escape Orlando high-rise platform during dangerous, severe storm

ORLANDO, Fla. - Two high-rise window washers had to escape from their platform after a storm hit, Thursday. The men were working on the 9th floor of The Vue apartments in Downtown Orlando.

Witnesses told FOX 35 the platform they were on was shaking around and the men escaped by climbing over their platform and onto an apartment balcony. The Fire department said they got into the apartment to let the men inside.

Darrell Beasivois was working from home when he saw the whole thing happen.

"That thing right there was swinging," said Beasivois. "I even grabbed my binoculars and I zoomed in on them and I can actually see them like holding on."

He says he saw the workers climb over their platform onto a balcony.

"They actually latched onto the balcony on the edge right there and climbed off which was very courageous," said Beasivois.

It was a dangerous situation that Dusty Peterson says could have been deadly.

"The lives of our crew are the most important thing to our entire industry," said Peterson.

Peterson has worked in the high-rise window cleaning business for over 16 years and says he has never seen a situation like this before.

"Safety is the biggest thing; We follow OSHA guidelines like gold, because it is gold,  it’s life," said Peterson.

He says they are constantly checking the weather because if there are high winds or lightning, scaling a building is a no-go.

"Wind is very, very detrimental because of the safety factor that it destroys any safety that you might be able to protect," said Peterson.

If the weather does get bad, he says window washers know they need to get their platform down as soon as possible and as safely as possible.

We talked to a co-worker of one of the window washers, he says his friends are doing okay.