The area is cordoned off at The Mill Casino-Hotel where a West Coast Contractors construction crane tipped over on Tuesday afternoon. Witnesses said the crane had been trying to pull down the gray concrete wall, on the left.-World Photo by Susan Chambers
No one was injured when a crane crashed in a construction zone at The Mill Casino-Hotel in North Bend on Tuesday afternoon.
The crane began to tip over slowly, at about 4 p.m., allowing the operator to get out before it started moving more quickly, said casino spokesman Ray Doering.
Some hydraulic fluid spilled out of the downed crane, prompting a call to the North Bend Fire Department. Assistant Fire Chief Jim Brown said two engines and 10 firefighters responded. They contained the spill, which proved to be hydraulic liquid, and turned the site back over to the construction workers.
“It was a very small, slow leak,” Brown said, estimating the total spill was less than 20 gallons.
Doering said the crane crashed in an area set for demolition. It hit a cinder-block wall, which was scheduled to come down anyway.
“This was all coming down,” he said. “Fortunately it wasn’t near anything going up.”
The incident won’t delay the opening of the new hotel tower, Doering said.
Statements are being collected from all the employees who were on the site to determine what caused the accident.
Scott Partney, the general contractor for the construction project, said he would not comment until after completing the investigation.
The Krupp crane is owned by West Coast Contractors. Attempts to contact the company’s president, David Kronsteiner, were unsuccessful.
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thursday afternoon about 12:30 or so, there was a north bend fire truck parked in the emergency parking in front of the north bend safeway. the 3 or 4 firemen who came out of the store were not on an emergency, were not taking anyone to the vehicle, were not in any sort of hurry. what they were doing, was apparently buying what looked like doughnuts? on tax payers gasoline?
These newer cranes have a costly and intelligent control box to prevent overloading. It would appear that someone found a way to by-pass the safety device.
yaqi, you speak da truff, them evil spirit gods are gonna swollow up us whole they gonna throwe bolts uh lightnin at us and dem evils are gonna go to da land dowm under (and i dont mean australia)
My husband and I both work on that consruction site. We had both just gotten off the roof of the small building adjusting to the new motel didnt get to see it happen but thank God no one was hurt. Not only is construction work a hard job but it can be very dangerous.And it only takes a second for a freak accident.
So, there was another crane that toppled North of here a few months ago at ANOTHER casino construction site...me thinks the Great Spirit is sending a message....
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