Two workers, who have been refurbishing the exterior of the steeple of the historic Bel Air Methodist Episcopal Church, spent about 20 minutes stuck 40 feet in the air above Main Street Monday afternoon when the motor on their lift stalled.
"We were trying to go up and get started again after lunch, and it just stalled on us, 40 feet up in the air," said Josh Wall, co-owner of J & S Quality Services, of Lancaster County, Pa.
The incident happened shortly after 1 p.m. Monday.
Wall and subcontractor Josh Crills, of Crills Home Repair, also of Lancaster, have been painting the siding and the windows and re-sealing the windows above the brick section of the steeple.
They got down safely with the help of two Bel Air Police Department officer, after they gave the officers instructions on getting them down using a panel at the bottom of the lift.
The workers, who are also brothers-in-law, said they tried to flag down a Harford County Sheriff's Office deputy who was walking along Main Street, who declined to help them at first.
"He, I think, thought we were kidding," Crills said.
He and Wall said they had to convince the deputy they actually were in trouble. The deputy looked at the instrument panel and called the town police.
"I said, 'We're stuck up here!'" Wall said.
The rented orange articulating bucket lift has been sitting on the sidewalk outside the church at 20 N. Main St. for about a month – Wall said rainy weather has caused delays in the work.
He said he felt drops of rain while stuck in the air.
"I [thought], 'That's great, we're going to get soaked by the time somebody gets up here,'" Wall recalled.
The rain held off until around 2:30 p.m., when a thunderstorm moved through the area.
The brick church dates to 1888, and it is the third sanctuary built at 20 N. Main St. since a United Methodist congregation was established in Bel Air during the 1780s, according to the Bel Air United Methodist Church website.
A Sunday school building, with a fellowship hall, was added to the rear of the church in 1956.
The congregation moved to its present-day home at 21 Linwood Ave. in 1968, and the Main Street building and property were sold to Harford County government in 1970. The building is now owned by a local non-profit.
Aegis Sports Editor Randy McRoberts contributed to this report