FDNY rescues worker after dumbwaiter falls on him inside Midtown building
MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) -- The FDNY rescued a man after the dumbwaiter he was working on fell on him inside a building in Midtown on Tuesday afternoon.
The FDNY said a 911 call was made around 12:30 p.m. for a confined space rescue at a building on E. 54th Street.
Firefighters arrived on the scene to find that a dumbwaiter car in a shaft had fallen onto a worker working on it on street level.
The victim was working on the dumbwaiter when it came crashing down on him from the 3rd floor. He was at street level when first responders said it crushed and pinned him.
At the scene, a supervising worker from Century Elevator informed inspectors that an individual performing work on the device was in the pit beneath the device, checking the hoist cables, when the cab fell on him.
"Units responded within in three minutes and they in fact found a dumbwaiter car in a dumbwaiter shaft that had fallen onto a worker who had been working on the street level," FDNY Deputy Chief Nicholas Corrado said.
It was around 12:30 this afternoon when the 32-year-old worker found himself in need of rescue inside this private social club on 54th Street between Park and Lexington.
FDNY officials said they initially tried to lift the dumbwaiter, but as they started to lift it up, it shook.
"Our initial plan was to lift up the dumbwaiter to get access to the patient, but once they started lifting up the dumbwaiter, it was kind of shaky and giving way so we formulated another plan where they breached both sides of the walls," EMS Division Chief Mark Bonilla said.
They decided instead to secure the car and break through the walls to get to the man.
"A confined space is a manpower intensive operation. We had units securing the car itself, we had units breaching walls to get access to the patient to the person," Corrado said.
Officials say the victim was conscious and alert the entire time.
He was rushed to a hospital with multiple trauma injuries.
It's unclear how heavy that dumbwaiter was.
The incident is now under investigation by the Department of Buildings.
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