RICHMOND

Two men were rushed to the hospital — one by air and one by ground — after falling off ladders at a construction site this morning.

Rescue crews from Richmond, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham were called at 9:40 a.m. to a home on Pleasant Pond Farm Road off U.S. Route 201 for two men who had fallen off ladders and sustained serious injuries. North East Mobile Health Services also responded.

Richmond Police Chief Scott MacMaster said the two men fell from ladders simultaneously 20 to 25 feet to the ground while hanging a long strip of Tyvek house wrap on the side of a large two-story garage. Exactly what spurred the fall is unknown.

One of the men injured is in his late 40s from Leeds, and received a significant head injury as well as multiple other injuries that may include internal bleeding, MacMaster said. A LifeFlight helicopter landed in a nearby field and first responders on scene carried him about 100 yards, according to MacMaster.

A 30-year-old man from Vassalborough sustained what appeared to be a compound fracture to an arm and multiple lacerations and was also to be airlifted, but a second LifeFlight helicopter was not available, MacMaster said.

Mutual aid from Bowdoin and Bowdoinham was called because manpower was needed to load the patients. All three departments helped with the landing zone for the helicopter as well.
Both men were bound for Central Maine Medical Center when the chopper and ambulance left the scene. MacMaster said the owner of the building company was on site when the accident happened and called for help. The police chief said he did not know the name of the builder the men were working for.

MacMaster said the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was called following the accident, which is routine whenever significant injuries happen at a workplace.