Update: Firefighters Cut Hydraulic Lift Apart to Free Trapped Man at LW High

UPDATE, 4:40 p.m. May 22: Kirkland firefighters had to cut a hydraulic lift apart to free a staff member who was trapped under it during an accident Tuesday afternoon in the school’s theater.

The man suffered minor injuries and was taken by an aid car to a local hospital.

Kirkland Fire Department Battalion Chief Joe Sanford said staff were using the lift in the school’s new theater and were moving it when the accident occurred.

“They tried to go through a doorway that required them to tilt it,” Sanford said. “It got away from them and one unlucky guy got his leg trapped underneath it.”

The lift is used to set up or adjust stage lights and theater props.

“His leg was entangled in it,” Sanford said. “We had to cut a cross member off the lift. Then we could get him up and pull him out.”

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Original story:

Kirkland Fire Department crews responded Tuesday afternoon to a report of a man trapped under some type of heavy equipmernt at .

The Kirkland Firefighters Facebook page reported the incident just after 3 p.m., saying “Initial reports indicate an adult male is trapped under some equipment in the theater." At about 4 p.m. the firefighters reported that the man had been extricated and taken by an aid car to a hospital.

KIRO TV reported without attribution that the man, apparently a worker, was trapped under a bucket-type lift that fell on him, and that firefighters had to cut the lift in half to free the man.

He was reportedly trapped in the school's new theater, opened late last year after a . There was no word on the condition of the man.

Here is KIRO’s brief report.

Kirkland Patch is pursuing the story and will report details as they become available.