June 27, 1980
Two New York City fire fighters are killed during a building fire due to an unsafe nylon rope that failed to lower them to safety. A fire fighter was trapped on the seventh floor, and a second heard his cries for help and swung down from a roof on a nylon rope to rescue him. As they were about to be lowered to safety, the rope suddenly parted and both men fell to their deaths. Five weeks earlier, the fire department had been notified that their nylon ropes had been certified inferior and dangerous.
