SHINE — Prior training helped Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue workers, working with several other agencies, to pull an injured 35-year-old Shelton man through a 30-inch manhole opening after he fell while working on the Hood Canal Bridge on Wednesday morning.
“While there were no incidents during the closure, today’s successful response showed the value of those training sessions and validated that our respective crews were well prepared for this type of incident,” said Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief Randy Coggan.
The unidentified worker fell 15 feet onto a concrete floor at 7:30 a.m. as he entered a concrete vault on top of a pontoon which holds up the floating bridge.
Since the fall was on the Jefferson County side of the bridge, the Port Ludlow department was the lead agency in the rescue.
The worker — who suffered several serious injuries — was treated and discharged from Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton on Wednesday afternoon, said Jody Matson, spokeswoman for Poulsbo Fire Department.
“We aren’t releasing his name, but I have confirmed that the man was released from the hospital [Wednesday],” Matson said.
Matson, and those speaking for other agencies, cited the privacy requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA Act, in declining to release the injured worker’s name.
According to Matson, a Navy submarine’s passage and subsequent bridge closure was delayed while rescue crews worked.
Navy Region Northwest Bangor personnel helped Port Ludlow and Poulsbo crews extricate the worker from the vault.
Coggan said crews set up heavy lifting equipment over the manhole while paramedics inside the pontoon worked to stabilize the patient and then placed him into a “Reeves Sleeve” — a pliable device that immobilized the man while he was lifted up and out of the small opening.
Prior training
Coggan said the multiple agencies involved in the rescue had trained for such an incident in April and May of this year in preparation of work on the Hood Canal Bridge.
“Confined-space rescues are labor-intense and require highly-trained technical rescue teams,” Coggan said.
“Prior to the recent bridge construction closure, a number of multi-agency technical rescue drills were conducted to ensure that all agencies involved in a bridge response like this were prepared and able to work together.”
Coggan said crews removed the patient from the pontoon and had him ready for transit to the hospital within 40 minutes of arriving at the bridge.
Paramedics originally planned to transport the patient by helicopter but heavy fog forced them to transfer the patient by aid car to Harrison.
“Confined-space rescues don’t happen often,” Coggan said.
“But from a training standpoint, that is what you focus on. You train for the low-frequency, high-risk events.”
Lisa Copeland, communications officer for the state Department of Transportation, said the fall occurred during ongoing work along the western half of the bridge.
“He fell into a pontoon cell as he was working on draining some water from the cell,” she said.
“The cells are about 19 feet deep and 30 inches in diameter, and that’s where they ballast the floating bridge.”
Copeland said mechanical and electrical upgrades on the western half of the bridge will continue for the next two months as part of the Hood Canal Bridge repair work.
Copeland did not know the name of the worker or what contractor he was employed by.
State Patrol troopers and Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies also assisted.
Representatives for both agencies said they did not have the identity of the man who was injured.
Krista Hedstrom, State Patrol spokeswoman, said traffic was not blocked during the rescue.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
