[NLRS] Never, ever commit this error of smarts ....

[W0WOI at aol.com]

Ham  radio operator looses hand and fingers in tower accident.
 
 
A 52-year-old ham radio operator in Athol lost several fingers and one of  
his hands Thursday when his amateur radio antenna tower collapsed on him 
while  he was working on it.

Multiple agencies responded to Bearpaw Galindo's home on Caravelle Road  
after his wife, Gail Perry, phoned 911 and informed a dispatcher the man was  
hanging 20 feet in the air with his right arm pinned within a 
telescoping-type  tower.

Perry said Galindo was repairing a portion of the 40-foot-tall  telescoping 
tower, when a cable holding it up snapped and caused the top  portions of 
the tower to collapse on his hands.

"I saw his fingers fly off of his right hand," Perry told The Press.  "I 
never want to see something like that again."


According to the Timberlake Fire Protection District, crews were  
dispatched to the scene at 11:58 a.m., and proceeded to raise the tower in an  effort 
to free Galindo's arm. After 20 minutes, the man was extricated and  
lowered to the ground.  Galindo was trapped for a total of 45  minutes.  "I can't 
say anything better about them," Perry said of the  emergency responders. 
"They were awesome."

Galindo was then transported by Life Flight to Kootenai Health.   Doctors 
told Perry her husband was in critical condition early Thursday  evening. At 
3 p.m., Galindo was taken into surgery, where doctors performed a  partial 
amputation on his left hand and a full amputation on the right.