A man working under the athletic fields at Peddie was overcome by fumes and had to be rescued from a manhole. An employee at the school used a fan to feed the worker oxygen, possibly saving his life.
By: Mark Moffa
EAST WINDSOR A man working underneath athletic fields Tuesday at The Peddie School was rendered unconscious after being overcome by fumes, Hightstown police said.
The man, Creighton Jackson, 27, of Neptune was rescued from a manhole by the Hightstown Fire Department, and may not have survived if it was not for the quick thinking of a Peddie employee, Sgt. Brian Rossi said Thursday.
"If it wasn’t for one of the employees of The Peddie School who thought quickly and brought a ventilation fan over, the victim may not have survived," Sgt. Rossi said. He said John Newman, the school’s director of maintenance, used a fan to get oxygen into the hole while waiting for emergency crews to respond.
Mr. Jackson and a co-worker of Mr. Jackson, employees of a private contractor, were working at the athletic fields Tuesday between 2 and 3 p.m. when Mr. Jackson, who was in a manhole, was overcome by an apparent lack of oxygen and fumes from a piece of equipment he was operating, Hightstown police said.
Mr. Jackson’s co-worker tried to remove the unconscious man from the hole, police said, but was unsuccessful. Other people in the area were summoned to help, but their attempts failed as well, Sgt. Rossi said.
A 911 call was placed to the borough Police Department, which contacted the Hightstown Fire Department and First Aid Squad.
Patrol Officers David Chenoweth and Frank Gendron responded along with Sgt. Rossi.
The Fire Department was able to successfully perform a confined space rescue, Sgt. Rossi said, and the First Aid Squad administered oxygen to Mr. Jackson, at which point he began to regain consciousness.
He was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton and was reportedly in good condition, police said.
Hightstown police said OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, was contacted and will conduct an investigation of the incident.
Sgt. Rossi said the Hightstown Police Department eventually realized the manhole was in East Windsor, and the East Windsor Police Department was contacted and handled the balance of the police investigation.