New York Firefighters Rescue Woman After Sidewalk Grate Gives
Published: May 23, 2007
Kids are fascinated by them and women wearing high heels disdain them. But after a New Jersey woman fell into a utility vault yesterday, no one could recall the last time a New York city sidewalk grate gave way.
It was just after 7 a.m. when Jessica Hinksmon, 26, of Englewood, N.J., fell through a metal Con Ed grate on West 51st Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, plunging 12 feet below ground and landing on her back on muddy concrete next to a transformer carrying 13,000 volts.
“She was inches away from being electrocuted,” Firefighter Frank Rush of Rescue 1 said. “She’s absolutely lucky to be alive.”
Hinksmon, who was on her way to work, suffered neck, back, elbow, wrist and leg injuries and was admitted to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/ Weill Cornell Medical Center in serious but stable condition, authorities said.
Chris Olert, a Con Ed spokesman, said Hinksmon fell into a transformer vault when its metal door somehow gave way.
Video from a nearby building shows Hinksmon essentially being swallowed by the sidewalk as she walks along the block.
“People who are here 20, 30 years, they’ve never heard of this happening before,” Olert said. “We have these vaults all over the city. They are safe. It was an accident.”
Fire Lt. Tom Donnelly, also of Rescue 1, said the woman was lying in a foot of mud and debris as firefighters began the delicate task of removing her.
“She was very scared,” Donnelly said. “She was pretty emotional. It was a substantial fall. We reassured her that it was OK.”
Firefighters worked their way around exposed feeder lines, strapped Hinksmon to a stretcher and hoisted her out of the transformer vault and up to the sidewalk.
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