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Fallen construction worker rescued by Lethbridge Fire Department

Jan 15, 2018 | 3:47 PM

LETHBRIDGE –  It was a rarity on a windy Monday afternoon, the Lethbridge Fire Department’s rope rescue team was called into action at a construction site at the north end of 43rd Street.

Platoon Chief Rob Chollak says a man working on the site fell approximately 20 feet down a culvert, and had to be extricated through a tunnel.

“The Technical Rescue team was activated, and did an assessment of the whole scene,” Chollak said.

“Instead of bringing him out of the hole that he fell in, they made the determination to bring him out quite a way down the road,” he continued. “The reason why is the access to where they brought him out is much larger, it’s a pipe that we can walk in [compared to] the tube that he fell in which was much smaller.”

Chollak says that made it a lot safer, a lot easier, and quicker to get him out.

Multiple crews from the Lethbridge Fire Department, Lethbridge Police Service, and Emergency Management Services were called in to assist with the rescue.

A stretcher with wheels was sent down into the culvert, which Chollak says was used to get him from one end of the underground area to the other due to injuries he suffered.

“Then we had to bring him up above ground, which was done with the technical rescue team using harnesses and pulleys, and they elevated him out of the ground,” Chollak said.

The man has been taken to hospital, but Chollak added there’s no word yet on his condition.