Firefighters have rescued a worker stranded on a rope outside seven floors up a building in Santa Ana, California.

The worker, who was washing windows, had seen his scaffolding collapse outside the nine-story federal building.

“He was roughly on the seventh floor dangling by a safety rope,” Orange County Fire Authority Battalion Chief Craig Covey told NBC4. “It’s something we train for all the time.”

Fire rescue teams have ropes about 600ft long specifically for such “high angle” rescues. It is scenario that emergency service teams train for regularly.

A firefighter was lowered from the building’s and secured the worker. The two were then lowered slowly to the ground.

A small crowd cheered as the two made it to the ground. Nearby streets were closed while the rescue operation was taking place