Worker Hurt in Roanoke Wastewater Incident

A worker was hurt Wednesday afternoon when he fell about 24 feet inside a concrete tank at a wastewater treatment plant north of Roanoke, according to reports.

A helicopter ambulance took the man to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, said Roanoke Fire Chief Mike Duncan. The man’s injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, Duncan said.

Roanoke firefighters were summoned to the Trinity River Authority Plant on U.S. 377 north of Roanoke at 3:45 p.m., Duncan said.

Debbie Bronson, spokeswoman for the Trinity River Authority, said the man was a painting subcontractor.

"He sustained, we are assuming, some broken bones, but no life-threatening injuries," she said.

The man, whose name was unavailable, was working on the interior of the tank on scaffolding when he fell about two dozen feet to the bottom, Duncan said.

Firefighters called for a technical rescue team from the Northeast Fire Department Association, but before those rescuers arrived, the Roanoke personnel got the worker out with a rescue basket lowered by a crane, Duncan said.

The fire department association was created to combine resources of fire departments in northeast Tarrant County.

The worker’s medical condition at the hospital was unavailable at 5 p.m.