Construction worker hurt at Tonawanda High construction site

A construction worker suffered a broken leg Monday morning while helping install a light standard at the new athletic complex behind Tonawanda High School, according to a fire official.

Shortly after 10 a.m., while the pole was being installed, the worker lost his footing and slipped into the 10-foot-deep hole, becoming pinned between the pole and the side of the hole, according to Assistant City of Tonawanda Fire Chief Michael Young.

The worker, who wasn’t immediately identified, was secured in a harness, Young said. The light standard, still attached to a crane, was removed before a ladder was placed in the hole, and two firefighters climbed down to help the worker.

Firefighters placed a splint on the worker’s left leg and used a Stokes basket to lift him out of the hole. He was taken by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center.

“These light standards probably are four feet … at the base and 60 feet in the air,” said Young. “They are big light standards.”

Young credited construction workers with helping in the rescue. “It was an all-out effort by everybody up there,” he said.



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