Construction worker is rescued after fall at Bellagio

Monday, March 1, 2004 | 10:52 a.m.

Firefighters this morning used a crane to lower an injured 31-year-old construction worker more than 300 feet to the ground from the roof of a tower being added to the Bellagio.

The Clark County Fire Department's heavy rescue unit was called to the Bellagio about 6:30 a.m. to rescue the man, a concrete worker for Marnell Corrao Associates, which has built several lavish resorts, including the Bellagio and The Mirage.

It was the second such dramatic rescue on the Strip by the specially trained rescue unit in the past six days.

Bellagio spokeswoman Yvette Monet said the accident occurred about 6:15 a.m. on the 27th floor of the Spa tower that is slated for completion in December.

The man fell about 20 feet to a concrete panel while working with rebar as he was setting a concrete form atop the tower, Monet said.

The worker appeared to have suffered ankle and hip injuries but was conscious and alert when he was rescued, firefighters said. He was taken to University Medical Center and was in stable condition, firefighters said. It was not clear whether the man slipped on something or lost his balance and fell.

The man's name was not released by Marnell Corrao, the Bellagio or the Clark County Fire Department.

About a dozen members of the Clark County Fire Department's rescue team from Station 21 handled the rescue.

"We took the elevator to the 23rd floor where it ended, and we had to walk up the last several flights of stairs to the roof," Capt. John Grana said, noting that firefighters from Station 18, who were the first on the scene, already had put the man into restraining equipment to prevent further injuries.

The man was strapped into a basket that was lowered with the construction crane.

Firefighter Francisco McGee, who has been with the rescue squad for four years and has been a firefighter for 27 years, rode down with the injured man.

"It's always a rush" being lowered hundreds of feet in that manner, McGee said, adding that there is a simple but important reason why a firefighter must ride down with the basket.

"My job was to assist him in case he got sick," McGee explained. He said that if the man had started to vomit, McGee would have had to roll him over so that he did not choke.

This morning's rescue was not as perilous as Wednesday's when a crane operator had to be lowered 500 feet from atop the Wynn Las Vegas project.

In that incident, 29-year-old Jacob Raines of Jake's Crane Rigging and Transport International, told paramedics that he had suffered neck and back injuries. He was taken to University Medical Center and was treated and released.

In January, the heavy rescue team had also been called to Wynn Las Vegas to lift an injured construction worker off a 60-foot structure at the site using a crane. In that case the worker had been hit with a metal object.

Southern Nevada has seen its share of construction accidents at megaresorts.

In December 1998, a 24-year-old worker was killed at the then-under construction Venetian, when a 10-by-20-foot piece of the hotel's facade fell from the top of the 35-story structure.

In December 1994, a 320-foot crane fell and killed three men -- two of whom were sitting in their cars and another who was walking in a parking lot -- at the construction site of a 28-story addition to the Riverside hotel-casino in Laughlin.

In 1992 two workers were killed at the Luxor during construction of the pyramid-shaped resort. In September of that year a 40-year-old construction foreman was killed when he fell from scaffolding at the construction site of the 30-story project.

Three months later a 42-year-old construction worker was killed when a boom struck him at the Luxor.

Sun reporter

Jace Radke contributed to this story.

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