Fire Department Responds to Construction Accident at 811 Emerson St.

At 8:25 a.m. on Oct. 9, the Evanston Fire Department was contacted to respond to a construction accident at 811 Emerson St., at Benson Avenue.

Upon arrival, crews learned that two iron workers had been injured. A crane was unloading stabilization columns from the back of a truck when the crane’s rigging failed, dropping the columns from a height of approximately 30 feet and striking the workers. 

Both construction workers were transported to Evanston Hospital. A 55-year-old worker died from trauma and a 27-year-old was in critical condition. 

The Evanston Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Special Operations team then assisted the crane operator down from a height of approximately 130 feet. OSHA and representatives of the construction companies are on the scene investigating the cause of the accident.