PIERSON, Iowa (KTIV) -
Imagine seeing a man suddenly fall 90 feet from the top of a water tower, to the ground below.
What would you do? For one Pierson, Iowa man, his training kicked in.
Crews from Maguire Iron, a company based out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, worked to put a new lid atop Pierson, Iowa's water tower Tuesday.
"The hazardous part went so beautifully, it'd scare ya," said Max Dunnington.
Everything seemed fine when Dunnington, Pierson's mayor, noticed something in his peripheral vision.
"Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something come out of the water tower, looked like had come out of the water tower," said Dunnington.
That "something" was a person.
"I didn't think it was actually a person that actually fell. It looked more like somebody threw a coat out," said Dunnington.
When Dunnington realized what had happened, that a man working on the nearby water tower had fallen at least 90 feet to the ground, his emergency training kicked in. You see, Dunnington also happens to be Pierson's fire chief. He used his radio to call an ambulance and medical helicopter to the scene.
"Right after I made my call, they said he was breathing and it wasn't too long after that, I could see he was moving around a little bit. So, we knew we had a rescue, not a recovery," said Dunnington.
Dunnington says the man was talking Wednesday morning and suffered broken bones in the fall.
There is no other word on his condition.
But given the circumstances, the town's fire chief says he's chalking it up to a miracle.
Authorities haven't identified the Maguire Iron worker who fell. We do know that he was wearing a harness.
The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration has not decided on whether it will investigate.
A worker fell while working on Pierson Iowa's water tower Tuesday.
