Iowa City Fire Department rescues person from University Hospitals tunnel after fall through maintenance hatch

By: Lee Hermiston Mar. 25, 2021 6:10 pm Updated: Mar. 25, 2021 6:10 pm

IOWA CITY - Iowa City firefighters rescued someone who fell down a maintenance hatch at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Thursday morning.

According to a fire department press release, crews were called to University Hospitals at 10:43 a.m. for a report of a person who had fallen down a maintenance hatch and into the hospital's tunnel system. The person has not been identified at this time.

Firefighters were on scene four minutes later and found the person, who had fallen 20 feet from a ladder to the tunnels below.

Firefighters and a Johnson County Ambulance Service paramedic treated the person in the tunnel while a fire department rescue team put together a 'overhead system” to remove them from the tunnel, according to the press release.

Comments: (319) 339-3155; lee.hermiston@thegazette.com

The Pappajohn Pavilion at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is shown in Iowa City on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. (Adam Wesley/The Gazette)