HUDSON, Maine — A Pierce Road man suffered cuts and possible broken bones when a second-story deck he was installing collapsed on him on Saturday, a town firefighter said.
The man, whom Hudson Fire Department Lt. Brad Fitzgerald identified only as being in his 40s and possibly the homeowner, was underneath the deck working on its supports when one of the supports gave way. The call reporting the accident came in shortly after 2 p.m., Fitzgerald said.
The man suffered several cuts to his head and face and possible broken bones in his legs. G & H Ambulance Service took the man to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Fitzgerald said.
The man is lucky that he wasn’t hurt worse, Fitzgerald said.
“With everything I saw, the man was very fortunate with what happened,” Fitzgerald said Saturday. “That’s based on the situation, the height where the deck was located. He was fortunate to have the amount of family members there at the time that he did to help him when it collapsed.”
It was unclear to Fitzgerald whether the man was trapped under the deck after it fell and the large group of family members who were there rescued him or if he was able to get out from under the deck by himself. When firefighters arrived, the man was out from under the deck, Fitzgerald said. Family members called 911.
The deck was square, approximately 6 feet by 6 feet, and was being placed near a second-story bedroom, Fitzgerald said.
“We are not talking a huge deck. I would call it more of a patio type,” he said.
The house is two stories and located on a dirt section of Pierce Road — basically a camp road — near Corinth Road, Fitzgerald said.
The first volunteer firefighters arrived on scene about 2:15 p.m. and treated the man. The ambulance arrived about 15 minutes later, Fitzgerald said.
Hudson is making the news again. Hope the man is ok.
Wishing this man a complete and speedy recovery!
My deck collapsed just last week. There were 5 people on it including me. Fortunately we were all standing on the top and it was only 3 feet off the ground. 4 people had minor injuries, 1 person, a 75 y.o. woman slid and landed under my house suffering major bruises and back injuries. And this deck was recently built (2 months ago) by a contractor. Be careful WHO you hire!
i think you mean, it was built by a wannabe contractor. a real contractor doesn’t have an issue like that.. you get what you pay for, low bid is never the right choice..
I never hire a contrator that has 32nd’s on his tape measure. that will cost you double in needless time.. and just because someone charges more doesn’t make them better. It only means that they have to pay for that new shiney truck they have. So if you think shiney trucks makes you a better contractor, then good luck because you will be making the payments on it.
did i mention shiney trucks?.. i have been in the trades for 35 yrs, i have seen so many wannabe’s come along it’s sickening. every time some mill or whatever lays off folks, boom, new contractors pop up. they are not contractors. and until this state starts up a license program for general construction or carpentry it will not change. any person with a hammer and a nail bag can call themselves a contractor!. its wrong.. i am a licensed tradesmen in 4 trades, all require a license, i carry heavy insurance and proud to hand the customer copies of both.. i have a long list of clients and do repeat business all the time. i might add that i’m never the lowest price, i drive a 2007 truck that i keep shiney, i have the best of tools and the knowledge of use for them. my comment before is plain, simple and true. you get what you pay for. if you as a customer are not willing to check references and your only thought is the bottom line then you,, get what you pay for!
I agree with most of what you said except the license.. insurance an references is always a must. But thet licence only allows people to charge more then the same quality service they can receive from old school contracters… As for fly by night contractors, you are right they don’t care and are a dirty bunch who would find a way to get their license if they needed one.. You may be a great contractor, and I thank you for that, but some people simply cannot afford to pay 8K for a deck when a seasoned old school contractor can do the same project for half of that… I hope you don’t think that if a family cannot afford your services that they don’t deserve to have the work done.. You have your place with a customer base that can afford your product.. others need a choice also.. The one man contractor is also a good choice for affordable rates.
Being licenced protects you more than the contractor. Being licenced assures you that has taken a test and has proficient knowledge to do the job correctly. Having insurance protects the contractor in case some thing goes wrong.
So how about naming the company so other people don’t get burned?
I am surprised the BDN caption didn’t read; “Man gets decked in Hudson!”
This would not sursprise me, LOL good one
We read on this page that “My deck collapsed just last week. There were 5 people on it including me.”
Anyone who has worked a booth at Union Fair and has observed the denizens of the ice cream-fried dough lane, can tell you that nowadays only three Maine people are enough to collapse an OSHA certified-contractor-built deck.
A couple of days ago I quickly sat in my favorite rocking chair before a very good friend could sit in it and probably reduce it to splinters.
Last month at a grange supper I heard a crash and screams when a chair crumbled and a neighbor found herself on the floor. The problem was quickly attributed to faulty chair construction and not the relentless consumption of our famous blueberry pies.
Since giving up cake, pie, ice cream, cookies and everything else that makes life worth living, in seven years I have pretty well got back the shipboard weight I enjoyed over 55 years ago. The only difference being that back then I might have heard someone whisper, “Ain’t he some trim in his sailor suit,” whereas now they say, “My Lord, ain’t he some old and emaciated.”
The humble Farmer
Ahh BDN gave us the address (basicly) so we can all drive by and see how the deck looks now!
Hmmm, possible quote heard from this would-be do-it-yourselfer, ‘How hard can it be to build a deck? I can do this myself!’
I thought the same thing. And who builds the platform, THEN sets up the supports? Plus this is not a one man job. If there were so many family and friends around, where was his help? This was a case of “how hard can it be?”. Just that hard!
I certainly hope that while he is in convalescence, his deck is finished for him….
One person has an issue with his own work and the contractors come unglued.. I have seen crappy work done by professional contractors who over charged for their crappy work…. Some of the best work I’ve seen done is by the homeowners.. I only employed a tech school carpenter once, the rest were old schooled. tech schooled mean’t a one day job took 3 days for the same result.
probably didn’t have a permit and not built to good enough standards. A weekend gone bad because of a do it yourself project.
Could he have built the deck on the ground and tried to attach it to the second floor?6 X 6 is still a lot of weight.