The Champaign Fire Department was called for the second time in two weeks Wednesday night to rescue a construction worker from a high lift that malfunctioned while in operation.

Tony Eversole, tuck pointer for English Brothers Company, had been working 55 feet up in the air doing routine repairs to the masonry on the Saint John Episcopal Church, 604 E. Armory Ave, when he realized he couldn’t get the lift to move.

“Most of these things have an override on them that operates off the battery, and you can let yourself down,” Eversole said. “But this thing doesn’t.”

He was stuck for a total of about three hours. He said this was the first time the company had used this particular brand of lifts, Teupen. The lifts have only been on the market for about three months, according to Eversole.

The malfunctioning lift involved in the incident two weeks ago, though, was not provided by Teupen.

“It wasn’t the same lift, and it wasn’t the same company, so I think we have what is known as a coincidence,” said Champaign Fire Chief Doug Forsman.

At first, Eversole said he called English Brothers to see if they could get the equipment working again, but they did not have success. Eversole then called the fire department at about 7:30 p.m.

Sgt. Matt Myrick with the University Police Department said that in order to reach Eversole, two cars had to be towed and several branches on nearby trees had to be cut. About 45 minutes later, the fire department was able to rescue him using a ladder truck, said Lt. John Mills of the Champaign Fire Department.

Despite the recurrence of such an incident, Eversole, who has been working in the field for about 30 years, said this has never happened to him before.

The procedure of tuck pointing is only done about once every 30 years, said Matt Townsend, parish warden for the church.

“We’re just glad that he got down safely,” Townsend said. “We’re really appreciative.”