ST. GEORGE – Fire and ambulance units responded to an emergency call Thursday evening after a man’s arm got caught in an industrial mixer.
Around 6:30 p.m. the St. George Communications Center received a call from a business in the 3050 East area seeking help for a man in his mid-20s who somehow got his left arm caught in an industrial pasta mixer. Both St. George Fire Department and Gold Cross Ambulance responded to the scene.
Blades attached to a shaft in the mixer has penetrated the man’s arm, and quite possibly the bone as well, St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker said. Personnel at the scene had to dismantle a part of the mixer on site so the man could be transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center. While in the bay at DRMC, the fire crew continued to dismantle the mixer further until only the shaft with the blades penetrating the arm remained.
“It was a pretty complex extraction,” Stoker said.
Once the dismantling of the mixer was complete, the man was taken into the hospital proper for an emergency operation to remove the mixer-blades. The victim was finally sedated for that part of the extraction, Stoker said. Up until that time he had been conscious and alert, though he had been given pain killers while the fire crews did their best to remove the bulk of the mixer from his arm.
The whole ordeal lasted between 60 and 90 minutes, Stoker said. Due to the “complex and nasty” nature of the extraction, Stoker said his men had to “take it slow and think on all (their) options.”
Friday morning, Stoker said he is currently unaware of the victim’s condition after being taken to the emergency room.
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Thoughts and prayers for the young mans recovery. Now, there needs to be a call to ban “assault mixers”.
That must have been a terrifying experience for the victim! Makes me shudder just to think about it.