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UPDATE: Two workers airlifted to hospital after roof collapse in Errington

Workers were conscious as they left the scene
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A fire truck and emergency personnel on Steelhead Place in Errington on Sunday, March 3. Two workers were taken to hospital after being pinned after a roof collapse on a nearby property. -Peter McCully photo

Two workers were airlifted to hospital Sunday afternoon, following a roof collapse in Errington.

The incident took place on a property in the 1800 block of Steelhead Place at approximately 2 p.m.

Members from the Errington and Parksville fire departments attended.

READ: Two workers airlifted to hospital after roof collapse in Errington

“It’s my understanding there was some demolition work going on on an older structure on the property and that the second floor, the upper floor of the structure, including the roof structure collapsed down on some workers,” said Parksville Fire Department chief Marc Norris. “The wall fell down and the roof came down on top of them. They were basically laying on the floor section on the second floor with the roof and walls collapsed onto them.”

Norris said Errington and Parksville firefighters were able to cut the roof off of one of the workers and had to use airlifting bags and some blocks of wood to get the roof structure off the other person that was trapped.

“For one of the folks we used our aerial ladder to put the person into a basket stretcher and then physically sling them down using the aerial ladder,” Norris said. “The other person was brought down using some ground ladders that we put up and was supported by firefighters down to the ground.”

Norris isn’t aware of the extent of the two workers’ injuries but he said they were both conscious when they left the scene.

A witness on the scene said “it looked like a two-storey building became a one-storey building.”