KETCHIKAN — One person was transported by ambulance to PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center following a Tuesday afternoon incident at the E.C. Phillips and Son Inc. plant on Tongass Avenue.
A man became trapped in part of the plant’s ice house system, according to Ketchikan Fire Department Assistant Chief Scott Brainard.
“I don’t know what happened, how the guy got to where he was,” Brainard said at the scene. “I don’t know if he had a medical issue and then fell down, or I don’t know if the machine caught him and he got in to it. … He was trapped on the second floor and then the firefighters had to cut a hole in the wall to remove him.”
It took firefighters about 20 minutes — using saws and other hand tools — to cut an approximately 4-by-4 foot hole through both the wood wall and ice to get to the trapped man, according to Brainard and KFD Chief Abner Hoage.
The KFD did not release information on the man’s medical condition following his extraction.
E.C. Phillips workers assisted firefighters in getting the man out of the ice house, Brainard added.
An E.C. Phillips representative confirmed that there was an accident at the plant but did not provide additional information.
• This story first appeared in the Ketchikan Daily News, and it is reprinted here with permission.
