Mustang
08-18-2006, 03:32 PM
2 stories.... 1 happy ending... 1 not-so-happy ending
hxxp://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=485223
Kenosha - An ordinary night's work at the chocolate company turned dangerous for Donovan Garcia early today when he fell into a vat of the molten goo and was trapped for more than two hours.
"I was pushing the chocolate down into the vat because it was stuck," said Garcia, 21. "It came loose and I just slid down the hopper into the chocolate."
Garcia's co-workers at the Debelis Corp. first tried to pull Garcia out but his pants were caught on a roller. That's when they called 911 and the Kenosha Fire and Police departments both responded, said police Sgt. Eric Larsen.
Garcia wasn't extracted until 1:30 a.m., about two and a half hours after the accident.
The viscous chocolate was warm - about 110 degrees, according to Capt. Greg Sinnen of the Kenosha Fire Department. For comparison purposes: The water in hot tubs is usually kept at 103 or 104 degrees.
Garcia, who has worked at the company almost two years, said he was almost chest deep in chocolate, the dark variety.
"It was in my hair, in my ears, my mouth, everywhere," Garcia said. "I felt like I weighed 900 pounds. I couldn't move."
Garcia said his colleagues added cocoa butter to the vat in an attempt to thin the chocolate. Sinnen said firefighters on the ladder company that responded to the accident helped scoop the chocolate out of the vat.
Eventually, enough chocolate was removed that Garcia was able to take off his pants and be pulled out.
He was taken to the Aurora Medical Center for treatment and was later released.
Debelis, a subsidiary of the Brussels, Belgium-based Puratos Group, makes a variety of premium chocolate for commercial customers.
Asked if he still had a taste for the stuff, premium or not, Garcia said: "Not so much anymore."
hxxp://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=484540
Man dies after being pulled into wood chipper
A 30-year-old man was killed Tuesday afternoon when he was sucked into a wood chipper while trying to dislodge a piece of wood that had jammed it.
The man owned a tree service company working in the 8900 block of 26th Ave. in Pleasant Prairie, according to a Pleasant Prairie Police Department news release.
The man was using his foot to clear debris that had jammed the wood chipper around 5:20 p.m. when his foot became entangled in the machine, witnesses told police.
His co-workers tried to rescue him from the intake, but he was pulled into and through the wood chipper, according to the release.
The accident remains under investigation by Pleasant Prairie detectives, the Kenosha County medical examiner's office and officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Police withheld the man's name while they attempted to notify his family
hxxp://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=485223
Kenosha - An ordinary night's work at the chocolate company turned dangerous for Donovan Garcia early today when he fell into a vat of the molten goo and was trapped for more than two hours.
"I was pushing the chocolate down into the vat because it was stuck," said Garcia, 21. "It came loose and I just slid down the hopper into the chocolate."
Garcia's co-workers at the Debelis Corp. first tried to pull Garcia out but his pants were caught on a roller. That's when they called 911 and the Kenosha Fire and Police departments both responded, said police Sgt. Eric Larsen.
Garcia wasn't extracted until 1:30 a.m., about two and a half hours after the accident.
The viscous chocolate was warm - about 110 degrees, according to Capt. Greg Sinnen of the Kenosha Fire Department. For comparison purposes: The water in hot tubs is usually kept at 103 or 104 degrees.
Garcia, who has worked at the company almost two years, said he was almost chest deep in chocolate, the dark variety.
"It was in my hair, in my ears, my mouth, everywhere," Garcia said. "I felt like I weighed 900 pounds. I couldn't move."
Garcia said his colleagues added cocoa butter to the vat in an attempt to thin the chocolate. Sinnen said firefighters on the ladder company that responded to the accident helped scoop the chocolate out of the vat.
Eventually, enough chocolate was removed that Garcia was able to take off his pants and be pulled out.
He was taken to the Aurora Medical Center for treatment and was later released.
Debelis, a subsidiary of the Brussels, Belgium-based Puratos Group, makes a variety of premium chocolate for commercial customers.
Asked if he still had a taste for the stuff, premium or not, Garcia said: "Not so much anymore."
hxxp://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=484540
Man dies after being pulled into wood chipper
A 30-year-old man was killed Tuesday afternoon when he was sucked into a wood chipper while trying to dislodge a piece of wood that had jammed it.
The man owned a tree service company working in the 8900 block of 26th Ave. in Pleasant Prairie, according to a Pleasant Prairie Police Department news release.
The man was using his foot to clear debris that had jammed the wood chipper around 5:20 p.m. when his foot became entangled in the machine, witnesses told police.
His co-workers tried to rescue him from the intake, but he was pulled into and through the wood chipper, according to the release.
The accident remains under investigation by Pleasant Prairie detectives, the Kenosha County medical examiner's office and officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Police withheld the man's name while they attempted to notify his family