Key West Injury Lawyer Blog
This morning three workers became trapped when they investigated the reason for the newly-paved Long Key Road was settling. Their investigation took them inside a drainage manhole, from which none of them came out alive. The three victims were working on a road project for Douglas N. Higgins, General Contractor.
When first responders arrived on scene, a volunteer firefighter with Ley Largo Volunteer Fire Department and two deputies with Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, they had to go inside the manhole themselves in an attempt to rescue the three workers. Two of the workers who had collapsed, probably due to some toxic fumes, were pronounced dead at the scene. Later in the day, the body of the third worker was recovered hours later, deeper inside the manhole.
Once the rescue was over, the volunteer firefighter also collapsed and was emergently transported to Mariners Hospital. Soon after, the two deputies part of the rescue were also sent to the Hospital. However, due to the firefighter’s condition qualified as critical, he was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami at Ryder Trauma Center.
This absolute tragedy serves as another reminder to the entire community to praise and pay tribute to first responders throughout South Florida, and beyond, who take a chance with their life each and every time they are called upon.
While we all pull for the firefighter in critical condition in this latest event and hope that he will come through with no permanent sequelae, our firm is currently representing the family of another first responder, a road ranger, who, while helping motorists to stay clear off the road after an accident, was fatally hit by a tractor trailer.
We all know there is no greater sacrifice than the ones made daily by first responders, but it is in cases like these that we can fully measure and appreciate what the men and women, and their families risk for the rest of us.
We will gladly add links to any gofundme campaigns below should one of the victims’ family member of this Key Largo incident start one and allow us to do so.
