TOWN OF LAWRENCE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Three construction workers in Brown County are expected to recover after being taken to the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
They were hurt when part of the building they were working on collapsed.
A call for an injured construction worker brought emergency crews to the Town of Lawrence construction site at about 1 o’clock.
“Arrival on scene, that person was trapped, people on scene were trying to free him,” said Chief Kurt Minten of the Lawrence Fire Department.
“We did remove that person from the structure and then there were two other people that were injured and taken to local hospitals.”
Minten tells FOX 11 it took about five minutes to free the worker and another 15 to 20 minutes to get him out of the building. He says the worker was stuck under a truss that collapsed.
“I don’t know exactly why it collapsed, but if you know anything about trusses, they’re like a domino effect when they fall.”
Van Rite & Father is the company building the strip mall at the corner of Mid Valley Drive and Eisenhower Road. The company’s base is right across the street.
Minten says Green Bay Technical Rescue was called to help free the Van Rite employee.
“All I can say is we train on everything and every scenario you come to is not exactly how you train, so that’s why we called in technical rescue. That is why we call on our neighboring departments. The police department and fire we work well together and it went about as smooth as it could have gone.”
While the building is being stabilized, for now, Minten says the whole thing might need to come down. He says all the trusses will need to be removed.
A final determination on what to do with the building will likely be made on Wednesday.
OSHA was called to the scene to investigate the incident.
