| Editor’s note: Structural collapse operations are a high risk/low frequency event that can kill firefighters when not practiced properly, according to FireRescue1 columnist Michael Lee. Check out his article on staying safe at such operations. |
The Associated Press
 AP Photo Firefighters at the scene of the incident, Monday. |
SAN FRANCISCO — An abandoned power plant collapsed during a demolition project Monday, killing a worker and seriously injuring two others.
One worker escaped with the help of co-workers and was taken to a hospital with a life-threatening leg injury, Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.
A second was trapped for more than half an hour before being taken to a hospital with “crushing leg injuries.”
The body of the third worker remained under metal rubble, Talmadge said, while inspectors tried to determine the safest way to reach it.
“It was a steel beam structure. It was four to five stories high, and on each of the levels was big, heavy boiler equipment,” Talmadge said.
“It was a structure that didn’t have any concrete around it or anything.”
The power plant had recently been decommissioned, said Pacific Gas and Electric Co. spokesman David Eisenhauer.
“Our first concern, our main concern, is with the welfare of the folks out there,” Eisenhauer said.