Painter stable after water tower rescue

<p>A Florida man remained hospitalized Friday after fell more than 30 feet while painting the inside of a water tank.</p><p>Jim Lurch, 37, of Alford, Fla., was in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Lurch was airlifted Thursday to Grady after he was rescued from the elevated water tank near downtown Jefferson.</p><p>Lurch, who works with a Perry-based paint contractor, is expected to survive, said Chad Hope, Jackson County chief of emergency services.</p><p>Hope said Lurch remained conscious and alert while inside the tank.</p><p>"He was talking to paramedics the entire time," Hope said.</p><p>A fellow worker called authorities after Lurch fell Thursday morning.</p><p>Jefferson police officer Adam Garrison was lifted to the top of the tower, then climbed down a service access ladder inside the tank, which had been emptied of water so it could be painted.</p><p>Garrison said he "used the only available safety equipment at the time -- my two hands and two feet," to get to Lurch inside the tank, which sits atop a 140-foot tall water tower.</p><p>Garrison stayed with Lurch, who complained of pain in his hips, for nearly an hour, talking about Lurch's job and other things.</p><p>Hope said it was difficult to maintain safety for rescue workers and the victim atop the water tower because of the wind, which was made worse by several Atlanta television station helicopters circling overhead.</p><p>Milton Keller, Hall County Fire Services battalion chief, said rescue personnel used a tripod atop the tank to lift Lurch out. Lurch, who was strapped to a stretcher, was then lowered to the ground on a painter's scaffold.</p><p>Gwinnett County firefighter Matthew Cook helped secure Lurch and lower him to the ground. "He was very calm," Cook said of Lurch. "A lot more calm than I was."</p><p>Hope said 40 to 50 emergency workers from Hall, Jackson and Gwinnett counties helped in the rescue, which took nearly four hours.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdbb98)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/1/132089