By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
Three workers were hurt, one of the critically, when a floor in a Pawtucket mill building under renovation collapsed, pancaking into the basement below, trapping a woman who had to be freed by firefighters.
The three workers were rushed to hospitals, police and fire officials said one worker was in critical condition, two others sustained non life-threatening injuries.
It happened around mid-morning at the block-long brick construction four-story mill that once housed the Schoolhouse Candy company, although neighbors thought the building, which had stood vacant for about 40 years, was being renovated to make way for more than 100 apartments.
“Upon arrival we found that a floor section had a collapse with workers on it,” said Pawtucket Fire Department Acting Battalion Chief Michael Thurber. He said the second-story floor fell into the basement below. There were at least 10 workers inside the building at the time of the collapse.
“We had a report of at least three injured workers, and one was still trapped within the rubble. The two workers that were out of the rubble had been extricated, either by themselves or by other workers on the scene. And, the one victim that was still trapped, we focused our efforts on her.”
Rescuers encountered what he described as “light rubble. They were able to uncover her with their hands and get her packaged up and out of the building,” Thurber said.
After crews were able to account for everyone, firefighters withdrew from the scene, leaving it for building inspectors and inspectors for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to try to determine the cause of the collapse, and whether the building remains structurally sound.
