Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Thanks to www.Statter911.com and Dave Statter for his coverage of this story.
It turns out that 48-year-old Anthony Ruggiero and 51-year-old John Kelly were childhood friends. Both were volunteer firefighters in Tarrytown. But at the time he died city officials say Ruggiero was operating as a foreman for the Village of Tarrytown’s Public Works Department. Ruggiero had gone into a 15-foot manhole behing the Consolidated Engine Company around 6:30 PM Monday checking out a clogged sewer line and collapsed. Firefighter John Kelly went in after him. Both men died.
Anthony Ruggiero, 48, and John Kelly, 51, childhood friends, both fell victim to toxic fumes they encountered while in a waste sewer line, 15-feet below ground.
Investigators will try to determine exactly why Ruggiero and Kelly went down the manhole without a breathing apparatus. Most protocols for manhole work require an air monitor, air blowers, safety harnesses and a lost list of rules and regulations to safely enter the space.
Officials said the oxygen levels in the manhole were dangerously low — about 14-percent, and 20.8-percent is needed to sustain life.
First, no one may enter a manhole until the air quality is checked, and then levels must be constantly monitored by a co-worker for methane and other deadly gases.
The worker must go down the hole wearing a harness attached to a winch that can easily be operated by a single safety operator — which makes it easy to rescue the worker if problems develop.
Any rescuers who go in must wear a breathing apparatus.
Police said Ruggiero went down the manhole behind Consolidated Engine Company 77 at around 6:30 p.m. Monday in his capacity as a Department of Public Works foreman to checkout a nearby blockage.
When he didn’t come back up, Kelly went down after him. He was also overcome by the toxic fumes and lost consciousness.
