PAYNE -- A Michigan man was dangling more than 100 feet in the air while waiting to be rescued Tuesday afternoon.

Chris Faylor, 34, of Belding, Mich., who was reported in "fair" condition this morning at a Fort Wayne hospital, was installing equipment for Comcast Cable on the Payne water tower when his rigging broke. Faylor's safety harness caught him, however, before he fell to the ground.

The Payne Fire Department received a call about a man hanging from the water tower at 12:50 p.m.

"We made a call to Paulding for an aerial ladder (truck)," said Payne Fire Chief Dave Krouse. "Paulding got here and the ladder was too short. We called Van Wert and got them and their medics."

Van Wert Fire Chief Jim Steele said that Van Wert and Payne personnel were able to get Faylor down within a half hour of Van Wert's arrival.

"We raised our aerial truck to its highest height at 105 feet and he was still a good five feet above us," he said. "Between our two departments we set up an anchoring system and were able to lower him to our basket."

Faylor was hanging from the tower for approximately an hour and a half before emergency personnel rescued him.

"We were worried about hypothermia from him sitting in the harness so long," Krouse said. (According to the National Weather Service, the temperature was 27 degrees at the time of the incident.)

Faylor was taken to the Van Wert County Hospital in Van Wert by the Van Wert EMS. He was later transferred to Parkview Hospital, where he was listed in "fair" condition this morning.

Mark Apple, vice president of communications and public affairs for Comcast, said Faylor was a subcontractor and works for Preferred Tower. Comcast had an employee on site during the rescue who kept the Comcast management team informed of rescue efforts.

"Obviously we're thankful he's OK and want to commend the fire departments for their quick thinking and actions that led to his rescue," said Apple, who added he does not know of any other time when rigging has broken during an installation for the company.

A spokesman for the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OHSA) office in Toledo said they are looking into the incident and do not know if there will be any findings at this time.

"We were pleased he was wearing his personal protective equipment system and the system worked," said Jule Hovi, area director.