SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
At 9:55 a.m., firefighters from the Sierra Fire Protection District and the Reno Fire Department responded to a report of a construction worker that had fallen 15 feet into a manhole at the new I580 construction site in Washoe Valley.
Upon medical evaluation by first arriving personnel it was determined that the patient suffered serious traumatic injuries.
The nature of the incident was a confined space rescue which required the activation of the Reno Fire Department Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR). The team is certified in confined space and rope rescue techniques which are necessary skills to safely perform this type of rescue operation. The USAR team made entry into the confined space, packaged the patient for rescue, and set up rope systems to extricate the patient safely from the manhole.
Incident Commander Tim Leighton, Battalion Chief from the Sierra Fire Protection District advised, “This is another example of how our neighboring agencies worked collaboratively to serve the community on incidents such as this.”
The 50 year old male patient was transported by REMSA’s Care Flight to an area hospital. At the time of this release his condition was not known.
