SEQUIM — An 85-year-old man was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after a roof collapsed on him Monday.
Clallam County Fire District No. 3 responded to a report of a collapsed roof at 263 Sturdevant Road near Sequim at 9:43 a.m.
The victim, who was not identified, called 9-1-1 himself and reported his leg was bleeding and pinned under the roof.
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According to a news release, when the first crews arrived, they discovered the victim was a longtime volunteer EMT with the district.
The man had been clearing snow from his house when a porch roof collapsed. The roof was about 16-feet wide and 30-feet long.
Although the collapse knocked the man to the floor and pinned him, furniture on the deck created a void space that kept the roof from fully collapsing.
Three Clallam County Roads Department employees who were in the area plowing roads assisted the district crews with the extrication.
The county roads crew, along with a Clallam County Sheriff’s Office deputy, cleared snow from the collapsed roof and identified where the man’s leg was pinned while medic and ambulance crews stabilized him and the rest of the district crew set up bracing and shoring to stabilize portions of the roof.
Together, the first responders were able to lift the roof from the man’s leg and extricate him in a little over an hour.
Due to the extent of the man’s injuries, his condition and the depth of the snow, first responders hand-carried him from the house to a four-wheel drive SUV.
He was then loaded into the back of the SUV and driven to Fish Hatchery Road where he was transferred to an ambulance and driven to Sequim Valley Airport. A Navy helicopter from Whidbey Island NAS flew him to Harborview.
Responding to the call were a medic engine, a medic rescue truck, a chief officer, the maintenance shop’s truck with plow along with two off-duty career firefighters and eight volunteer firefighters.
The Sheriff’s Office deputy, along with three members of the county roads department and an Olympic Ambulance, provided assistance.