FRANKFORT, Ind. -- Emergency crews rescued a man early Thursday morning
who had been trapped on a paging and cell phone tower for more than 17
hours.

Fire crews said Jeff Burnette was taken to a hospital where he was being
checked out after the rescue. Crews said he suffered from exhaustion,
6 News' Julie Pursley reported.

Burnette works for a computer company and was about 300 feet up on the
tower to do some repairs. Investigators said Burnette was experienced
with tower work. He had gone on the tower at about 10 a.m. on Wednesday
and called his boss for help at about 7 p.m.

"(He) had become too exhausted to make the descent by himself," said
Frankfort fire Chief Greg Miller.

The Frankfort Fire Department and rope rescue teams from the Lafayette
and Indianapolis departments were called to the scene to assist with the
rescue.

"Lafayette had come over and assessed the situation and saw that they
really didn't have the equipment that they needed," Miller said. "So,
they contact IFD. IFD came down and had all the tools that they needed
to get this gentleman down."

The rescue was a lengthy process. Fire crews were given instructions
from experts about how to navigate the tower and get the man down.

Burnette had all of the safety equipment he needed and was stuck in a
seat harness.