A worker who was seriously injured when he fell 25 feet off a pier in Portland was rescued from the water Friday morning.
The man, whose name was not released by officials, fell from the end of Holyoke Wharf and landed on a fender floating on the water next to the pier. Fire officials say workers who saw the accident played a vital role in keeping voice contact with the man and directing first responders to his location.
Firefighters from the Bramhall Station were dispatched at 10:33 a.m. and arrived at the scene two minutes later, according to the fire department.
Two rescue swimmers from the fire department were deployed from a nearby float and stabilized the patient in the water until the fireboat Marine 1 arrived. The water temperature at the time was 58 degrees.
The patient was taken by Marine 1 to an ambulance, then taken to a hospital for injuries believed to be serious but non-life threatening.
“Our fire crews train for these types of rescue on a routine basis and today’s incident proves that training pays off,” Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Neat said in a press release.
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