PA Firefighters Rescue Man Pinned by Massive Ice Chunk

Jan. 9, 2018
An Erie man was pinned by a 6-by-10-foot chunk of ice he had dislodged from the side of a house.

Jan. 09--Erie fire officials are calling a local man "extremely lucky" after he was pinned by a 6-by-10-foot chunk of ice he'd been trying to dislodge from the side of a house.

It took a crew of Erie firefighters more than 15 minutes to free the man, who suffered only minor injuries to his right leg after being trapped by the mass of ice at a residence in the 500 block of East Eighth Street.

The 67-year-old man, whose name was not available Monday, had been hitting the ice with a shovel when it fell, said Fire Chief Guy Santone. The man fell backward onto a pile of wood, which took most of the force of the ice when it landed, Santone said.

"When the thing came down it hit the wood instead of him," Santone said. "If it had hit him it would have been a lot worse."

The ice pinned the man's legs, said Deputy Fire Chief Mike Balliett, who responded to the scene. Five firefighters used crowbars and other tools to slowly lift and chip away at the mass holding the man in place.

The man was transported to UPMC Hamot.

Santone said this is the first case of someone being trapped or injured by falling ice that fire crews have seen this year.

"Right now, getting the snow off the roof, or the icicles, you have to be extremely careful," Santone said. "If you get a situation like that, go out and get a professional to do that for you."

Santone said the man trapped by the ice was "extremely lucky" not to have been more seriously hurt.

"He's the luckiest man on the face of the Earth," Balliett said.

___ (c)2018 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at www.GoErie.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Voice Your Opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Firehouse, create an account today!