First responders, using airbags, freed the man and he was
airlifted to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, according to Greg
Jakubowski, chief of the Lingohocken Fire Co. The wood-frame office building on
Heritage Center Drive partially collapsed before 9 a.m. while workers were
bracing roof trusses, the chief said.
Scott Henley, deputy chief of Central Bucks Ambulance, said
he talked with the man while they treated and tried to free him. Henley said
fallen roof trusses had pinned the worker from the waist down.
“We have to think of ‘how are we going to get him out
safely, for everyone?’ Because, if we get hurt, we can’t help him,” he said.
Henley said that, although there was a language barrier, he
did his best with the Spanish he remembered from high school to help take the
man’s mind off the situation. While conscious at first, Henley said the man
eventually lost consciousness as pain medication and shock took hold.
He said they treated the man for crushing injuries and
stabilized him before firefighters lifted the debris off him, moved him to an
ambulance and eventually to the helicopter.
Jim Kettler, the fire marshal for Buckingham Township, said
township officials would try to determine how the collapse occurred, but
suspected some of the bracing on the building had failed. He did not know how
the collapse had occurred and would work with the contractor to see whether the
building would be salvageable.
John McCamley, a subcontractor working on-site for Platinum
Construction Services, said the man worked for one of the other subcontractors
on the project. He said that, after the collapse, the man’s coworkers had been
sent home.
Source: TheIntelligencer.com
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