Decks are supposed to be gathering places for relaxation and enjoyment, but last Friday, May 21, two proved the opposite for several individuals.
The Fannin County Emergency Medical Service (EMS) was called to a residence off Old Highway 76 near Lakewood just before 10 a.m.
Originally, the 911 center received a report that an elderly woman had fallen from a deck and suffered a possible broken arm.
Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Robert Graham said an EMS ambulance and fire unit were both dispatched to the scene. There they found an elderly woman had been sweeping and fallen on the deck.
While the EMS crew was assessing the patient, the deck, which was about seven to eight feet above the ground, fell, sending the two-person crew and patient tumbling to the ground.
Graham said one of the fire crew members was standing on the portion of the deck that didn’t collapse and the other had returned to the ambulance for supplies.
The patient suffered additional, minor injuries, Graham said.
Paramedic Becky Huffman suffered a broken ankle.
Advanced Emergency Medical Technician Andrew McDaris suffered stomach and side injuries, but was cleared by doctors.
Graham said it is believed a grill on the deck likely fell on McDaris.
A second EMS unit was sent to transport the original victim while McDaris and Huffman were able to drive themselves to the hospital, Graham said.
That afternoon, just before 2 p.m., crews were dispatched to the report of a man falling from a deck off Blackberry Drive in the Mineral Bluff area.
Graham said according to reports, the victim, identified in his late 30s, had fallen about 18 feet.
He was transported by a Fannin EMS ambulance to a landing zone in Culberson, North Carolina. From there, he was flown by helicopter to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Georgia.
Graham said the victim had temporarily lost consciousness from the fall and had also suffered a back injury.