On July 22, at 0820 hrs, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a man who had fallen into an 80-foot-deep hole at a gas drilling operation in a remote part of Little Hoss Ranch, located southwest of Fort Worth, Texas. The Sheriff’s Department first dispatched Cleburne Fire Rescue, the Cresson and Godley volunteer fire departments and CareFlite ground and helicopter EMS units.
Before emergency units arrived on scene, co-workers feared the man might slide farther into the hole, so they lowered a second worker in a harness on a cable with a ball hook. He tied 1″ webbing around the victim’s foot and attached the cable to it. The crew then pulled the second worker from the hole.
The ranch covers a large area, and the 911 caller had provided only vague directions, making it difficult for first responders to find the scene. However, the CareFlite helicopter, which arrived on scene at about 0840 hrs, was able to locate the site 2 miles off a county road and quickly direct ground units to it.
A CareFlite paramedic donned a harness, and another first responder lowered him on a rope to assess the victim. However, the medic could not access the victim because of his unusual position, the narrow space and the block on the cable that restricted access to the patient. The paramedic was able to determine that the 26-year-old victim was conscious, alert and oriented, with no complaints of serious injury or pain.
The first ground units began arriving on the scene at 0905 hrs. Rescuers discovered a hole approximately 36 inches in diameter; however, the hole’s diameter tapered to approximately 20 inches at about 45 feet down, where the worker was lodged with his buttocks down and hands and feet above his head.
Workers had created a “pilot hole,” where a massive drilling rig would eventually sit. Next to it they created a “mouse hole” to temporarily store lengths of drilling pipe until needed to join the drilling string. The victim had been sitting by the edge of the mouse hole, facing the pilot hole, when he suddenly lost his balance and fell backward into the mouse hole.
At 0940 hrs, the North East Fire Department Association (NEFDA) arrived on scene with approximately 30 firefighters. The NEFDA is a coalition of Dallas-Fort Worth departments, including Haltom City, Grapevine, Keller, Hurst, Bedford and North Richland Hills, with specialized equipment and training.
The incident command system was implemented, with the CareFlite medic assigned to medical care and the Johnson County sheriff’s deputy assigned to restricting the site to essential rescue personnel only. The front gate of the ranch was set up as a staging area for the news media.
After checking the air quality in the hole, rescuers lowered an oxygen line to the man, who donned the facemask. The rescuers set a tripod over the mouse hole, lowered a line with a handcuff hitch tied to the end and then instructed the victim on how to secure the hitch above his elbows.
They rigged the haul line to run from the victim to a pulley at the apex of the tripod and then down to a change-of-direction pulley at the bottom of the tripod. The second pulley was rigged to keep the haul force low so the tripod would not tip over when the line was hauled.
Rescuers then ran the line back to a brush truck where they anchored a “Z-rig” (3:1 mechanical advantage) haul system constructed of pulleys and tandem Prusiks. A six-person team stood by for the haul.
At this point, rescuers felt that the victim also needed a safety line and harness before they attempted to lift him out. At 1035 hrs, a rescuer was lowered in an inverted position into the shaft to secure the additional safety line. Although it was not possible to get a harness and safety on the victim, the rescuer was able to tie webbing onto his foot and attach a safety line.
It took rescuers about 12 minutes to raise the victim out of the shaft. Despite the fall and being stuck in a cramped position for so long, his only complaint was some leg pain.
After a medical assessment, CareFlite Air transported the victim to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, where he was held for observation and then released. The last unit cleared the scene at 1053 hrs.
Sources: Keith Scarbrough, assistant chief of operations, and Engineer Kris Watson, both of Cleburne Fire Rescue, provided information for this report. Some additional details were taken from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
LESSONS LEARNED/ LESSONS REINFORCED: Personnel safety and rehab were major concerns at this incident. The incident site was approximately 1 acre of gravel, which was dusty and hot, and temperatures reached 100 degrees F by noon. A volunteer emergency support service provided rehab stations, including cool drinks and food.
Having a backup plan was essential. In case the initial rescue strategy did not work, Chesapeake Energy and its subcontractor began assembling equipment to bore a larger shaft parallel to the one in which the patient was trapped.
Chief Scarbrough commented that although most of the crews had never worked together, by following the NIMS, all rescue personnel worked as though they were in the same department. There was one communication problem because of noise from several news helicopters flying over the site. However, command discussed the problem with the CareFlite pilot who then radioed the news helicopter pilots and asked them to move away from the scene, which they did.
