California Crew Rescues Worker from Pipeline

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. --

A subcontractor working at Rio Bravo Poso Cogeneration Plant was injured Wednesday afternoon after an industrial accident.

The accident happened around 3:45 p.m. when two workers were standing on scaffolding cleaning a boiler about eight stories up at the facility. While cleaning, the workers were hit when a piece of insulation fell. One of the workers fell, becoming stuck inside a cylindrical pipeline.

Kern County Fire responded to the plant of Porterville Highway, north of Merced Avenue, where about 20 firefighters used a system of pulleys to lift the man up and out before walking him down the eight flight on a backboard roughtly two and a half hours after being injured.

The workers injuries were not immediately known, but a company spokesman for the plant said the worker was taken by ambulance for precautionary reasons and that it was not as serious as the incident sounded.

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