Spokane7
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May 13, 2010 in City
Construction worker injured when home collapses
A man working for Hammerhead Demolition Inc. is taken to an awaiting ambulance after Spokane firefighters freed him from under a house that collapsed at 3633 E. Second Ave on Thursday, May 13, 2010. The man was prepping the house to be moved.
(Full-size photo)
A man escaped serious injury today when a house fell on him.
The man, who was not identified, was trying to move the home at 3633 E. 2nd Ave., which had been sold by the state Department of Transportation as part of the North-South Freeway corridor. He apparently was working alone when the house shifted and collapsed onto what was left of the foundation.
“I heard it. We were down in the basement and I heard a boom. I ran up here and the house was down and there was dust,” said neighbor Geno Cushen. “I didn’t know he was there. He let us know he was down there. I could hear him calling. He said he wasn’t hurt, just trapped.”
At about the same time, the Spokane Fire Department Technical Rescue team was training with its tractor trailer when the call came in at 1:41 p.m., said Assistant Chief Brian Schaeffer.
“Our whole team, the tractor trailer and the whole works, were at the training center when the call came in,” Schaeffer said. “They were able to quickly deploy and use the tractor trailer to lift the house. They used cribbing to stabilize it, and then lifted it some more.”
It took about 20 minutes to extricate the man, who was in his 50s, who works for Hammerhead Demolition.
Cushen said the man’s wife purchased the home and he had been working alone to jack the home onto steel beams resting on trucks of four tractor-trailer tires. But it appears he didn’t put chocks in front of the tires to keep them from rolling, Cushen said.
“I called 911 … and half the city showed up,” Cushen said. “I’ve chatted with him a couple of times. They were moving the house. He’s been working on it for about a month.
Schaeffer said the man was transported with minor trauma to the area around his hips.
“He was the only one inside when the load shifted,” he said. “He was between the foundation and the house. It sounds like he was trapped but not pinned. He’s very lucky.”
Closing Geiger: Wise or worrisome? 
spokanecommunistparty on May 13 at 4:19 p.m.
My grandfather died that way on August 20, 1962 here in Spokane. His name was Paul K. Bonser and I wish the Spokesman had its archives online so I could learn more about it. The chances of surviving this is small, this guy should be thanking his lucky stars.
carolynl on May 13 at 6:54 p.m.
Hey Spokanecommunityparty: While our digital archives don’t go back that far, many issues of the Spokesman-Review and the old Daily Chronicle are available through Google’s news archives. Just go to http://news.google.com/archivesearch, and click on “advanced search.” There you can search by name and by publication — either Spokesman or Spokane Daily Chronicle. The archive isn’t complete, but there’s a decent chance you might find your grandfather’s story there. My understanding is that searches are free, but there is a charge for printing the archived story.
Good luck in your search.
spokanecommunistparty on May 13 at 7:20 p.m.
ha I found it, thanks=)
polistra on May 13 at 7:24 p.m.
Here’s the Bonser article. It’s among the free pieces, though most items are not free.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IJwSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=R_cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5501,4905830&dq=bonser+spokane&hl=en
The Google News Archive is definitely useful, and the Spokane papers
are better represented than most other cities.
spokanecommunistparty on May 13 at 7:44 p.m.
Thats the one, and two generations later we still live on that farm. The Bonser family can overcome anything.
carolynl on May 13 at 7:45 p.m.
Glad you found it, SCP. Sounds like a horrible accident.
spokanecommunistparty on May 13 at 8:02 p.m.
My grandmother rebuilt her house on the same spot one year after and she still lives there today, she is one tough lady.