One person airlifted after being pinned by forklift in west Thurston County Wednesday
One person was airlifted and hospitalized Wednesday after being pinned under a forklift in west Thurston County.
The incident occurred at a worksite on the 12000 block of Marksman Street Southwest, between Mima Mounds Nature Area Preserve and Capitol State Forest.
The West Thurston Regional Fire Authority responded to the scene at about 1 p.m. and found a worksite employee pinned under a forklift that had rolled into a hole, Fire Chief Nathan Drake said in a news release.
Firefighters and Tumwater medics stabilized the forklift and treated the person while requesting additional assistance. The Thurston County Special Operations Rescue Team brought in heavy lift equipment to extricate the person, and Airlift Northwest dispatched a helicopter to transport the person to a hospital.
Drake said it took more than an hour before the person was extricated from under the forklift and transported to a hospital. He said the person was seriously injured but stable.
“The operation took a lot of hard work from our rescue and EMS personnel to have a positive outcome for this patient,” Drake said.
Crews from the Tumwater Fire Department, McLane Black Lake Fire Department, Olympia Fire Department and Lacey Fire Department assisted in this operation as well.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 10:40 AM.
