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August 15, 2007

Update: Excavator tips at station demolition site / Photo

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski
A construction worker races to look for the operator of the excavator after it tipped this afternoon. The excavator rolled over after sinking into the basement of the old police and fire station at LaSalle Square.

PROVIDENCE -- Firefighters, who have been reminiscing since demolition began on the old police-fire headquarters at LaSalle Square, were called to a demolition emergency today.

An equipment operator working on the demolition suffered an ankle injury when his excavator tipped over just before 1 p.m., said Deputy Assistant Fire Chief Henry Cochrane.

As the unidentified operator was piling up debris, his tracked excavator ran over the void of the building’s open basement and turned onto its side, Cochrane related. The operator was thrown out of the cab and into the basement.

“In a way he lucked out because he landed in the cellar and the machine stayed up on top” and did not fall on him, Cochrane said.

There was no obvious way to safely get into the basement, the sides of which are bristling with exposed metal rods, Cochrane explained. But because the building used to be their home, firefighters knew right away that they could get into the basement by using a door on the Fountain Street side that used to lead to the bays where the chiefs’ vehicles were parked.

Once in the basement, rescue workers unfolded what they call a stair chair and sat the victim in it so he could be safely and comfortably carried up the staircase and then transferred to a gurney. The operator suffered a sprained or broken ankle, he said.

-- Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

The police notified the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which sent two inspectors to the work site at 209 Fountain St. downtown.

Firefighters, whose main station is now housed in the Public Safety Complex several blocks away, have been interested observers of the progress of demolition. When the emergency call came in, Cochrane said, some of them were chatting about how they wished they could have a brick as a memento.

Cranston developer The Procaccianti Group began demolishing the building this month to clear the area for a parking lot.

-- Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman
A worker spreads water to minimize dust as demolition continued this morning -- before the machinery incident -- of the former Providence police and fire headquarters in LaSalle Square. The building had opened in 1938 and closed after a new police safety complex was opened in 2002.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 1:50 PM | Permalink

Comments

Cleared for a parking lot? And here I thought all this time there was eventually going to be a building there!

One Irate Providence Resident | August 15, 2007 1:33 PM link

One Irate Providence Resident, if you really ARE a Providence resident you should know better than most that what Providence desperately needs is someplace to park. What we DON'T need is another abomination like the G-Tech building.

Greg | August 16, 2007 12:52 PM link

August 15, 2007

Update: Excavator tips at station demolition site / Photo

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