People Who Have Snow On Their Roof

P71_CrownVic · January 6, 2011

So...last week, my co-workers and I responded to a male that fell off the roof. CPR was in-progress as we were driving to the scene.

We get on scene to find a male that had fallen off his roof/ladder while attempting to remove an ice damn from his roof. He fell backwards onto the only area that was clear of soft, fluffy snow...his front walkway.

It took myself driving the ambulance code 3 about two minutes to get on scene. By the time we got there, 3 of our police officer/paramedics were already providing ALS care. As I pulled up, I saw a woman come running from down the street. This was his wife. She was at the sledding hill with the grand daughter when all of the sudden she heard sirens and saw police/fire/EMS vehicles arriving at her house. I attempted to gather information from her and reassure her that we were doing everything we could to help her husband.

It wasn't long after that he was placed on a backboard and transferred to the ambulance. I drove to the hospital, a level three trauma center, as fast (and safely) as I could. He had 4 paramedics working on him during the transport. At the hospital, they attempted a few more procedures, but it wasn't enough. The man lost his life.

What made it worse, is that this man was very well known within the Twin Cities EMS community. Word traveled fast of his accident.

Please...if you insist on going on or near your roof to remove snow and ice...think twice.

Here is a link to the story (he was not employed by my city's EMS system...that headline is false):

TwinCities.com

jro909 · January 6, 2011

i remeber when a guy climbed up onto a tree branch..kicked the ladder off, then began cutting the branch while still on it...in front of the firehouse

Wingnut · January 6, 2011

i remeber when a guy climbed up onto a tree branch..kicked the ladder off, then began cutting the branch while still on it...in front of the firehouse

There was a story a couple of years ago on Fark where a guy was on a ladder using a chainsaw to cut some limbs. His wife was holding the ladder....Well, he fell off the ladder, dropping the chainsaw in the process. The chainsaw decapitated his wife, then he landed on it chest-first. Killing him. MAN...When it's your day, it's your day.

jro909 · January 6, 2011

some people deserve darwin awards

Wingnut · January 6, 2011

some people deserve darwin awards

Yeah, for trying to jump their bicycle over the house or spraying Tabasco on a tiger with hemorrhoids ass...But not for trying to get ice off the roof.

jro909 · January 6, 2011

some people deserve darwin awards

Yeah, for trying to jump their bicycle over the house or spraying Tabasco on a tiger with hemorrhoids ass...But not for trying to get ice off the roof.

i have ice on my roof, am i going to go knock it off? hell no it will slide down when it wants to..snow and ice are good natural insulation

Wingnut · January 6, 2011

Well it didn't say why he was doing it. I've knocked ice off because it was causing a leak in the shop. And it's a good thing I thought ahead too, because the entire 30' long and 15' deep sheet of 2" of ice let go at once. That might have hurt. It sheared the lights right off the side of the building when it went by too

He could have been knocking it off so it wouldn't randomly fall on his kids or something.

KMGZ400 · January 6, 2011

some people deserve darwin awards

Yeah, for trying to jump their bicycle over the house or spraying Tabasco on a tiger with hemorrhoids ass...But not for trying to get ice off the roof.

i have ice on my roof, am i going to go knock it off? hell no it will slide down when it wants to..snow and ice are good natural insulation

hahaha a good excuse for being lazy...

i have never heard of anyone removing snow/ice from their roof anyway though.......

leverlution · January 6, 2011

Some parts of the country you have to. There are some parts that get so much snow, it will collapse your roof if you don't. I don't live in one of those places, but we visited once during a bad snow storm just for fun.

The post earlier about ice sliding off is true too. We used to have that problem with the big "Rubb" tent at work. Huge sheets of THICK snow and ice would slide off, always right by the doors to get in or out. They would hit hard enough to rip off the siding from our trailer, break the wooden walk way banisters, rip mirrors off of cars, and put NASTY dents in roofs/fenders if we parked work cars too close. We used to wait a day for the ice to get wet underneath, and hit the roof with the stick of a shovel to make them slide off before they killed anyone.

Toadz · January 6, 2011

some people deserve darwin awards

Yeah, for trying to jump their bicycle over the house or spraying Tabasco on a tiger with hemorrhoids ass...But not for trying to get ice off the roof.

i have ice on my roof, am i going to go knock it off? hell no it will slide down when it wants to..snow and ice are good natural insulation

hahaha a good excuse for being lazy...

i have never heard of anyone removing snow/ice from their roof anyway though.......

Then you obviously aren't from MN or WI! We've had a ton of snow and freezing rain this winter. In one day we had 23" of snow. So far I believe we've gotten 40+" of it. It builds up to the point that it causes great damage to the building it's sitting on either by collapsing the rooftop (Metrodome anyone?) to causing damage from water not being able to escape. There's also the chance that it could slide off the building causing great injury or death. The man had an unfortunate accident and his family suffered a great loss..don't see anything worth mentioning Darwin awards for.

General Lee 01 · January 6, 2011

Man, was taking this thread down this route necessary?

As a matter of fact this is the 2nd thread this week dealing with a tragic loss of life that atleast one or 2 knuckleheads thought was humorous.

I'm glad somebody sees a light side to death.........

jro909 · January 6, 2011

Man, was taking this thread down this route necessary?

As a matter of fact this is the 2nd thread this week dealing with a tragic loss of life that atleast one or 2 knuckleheads thought was humorous.

I'm glad somebody sees a light side to death.........

humor is a coping mechanism with death..learned it from doing EMS for years

Roofer · January 8, 2011

i have ice on my roof, am i going to go knock it off? hell no it will slide down when it wants to..snow and ice are good natural insulation

People really should be able to leave things alone and it should be fine, although your roof doesn't need any insulation nor does it benefit anything.

Hire professionals please. There is a reason people do this type of stuff for a living.

99silveradoz71 · January 10, 2011

When I was still riding with my field training officer, we responded to a call of a fall off a roof. Lady was putting Christmas lights on, but decided to sit on the angled roof using a stool that she brought out from a second floor window. A few years back, I also responded on a call when a tree trimmer had fallen out of a tree. Both definitely got me thinking.

gnet158 · January 11, 2011

I would NEVER go on my roof because of that exact reason. It doesn't snow in So CA but I see neighbors on their roofs putting up Christmas decorations every year. Plus we had someone in the extended family pass away from falling off a roof.

Very sad stories.