A man is recovering after his foot became caught in an escalator at an Atlanta shopping center, leading to an hour-long effort by firefighters to free him from the moving staircase.
    
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that firefighters used heavy equipment to remove his right foot from the escalator in a parking deck at Phipps Plaza on Thursday. Authorities said the man was conscious and alert when taken from the scene.
    
Atlanta fire Capt. Marian McDaniel said the man, who is in his 30s, was at the mall to work on the sprinkler system.
    
McDaniel said he was carrying a ladder up the escalator when the ladder somehow slipped and "created a wedge in the stairs of the escalator" where his foot became stuck.