Caledonia Argus

Man in ICU after Reno quarry fall

Posted: 6/15/04

By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

A Department of Natural Resources worker received multiple injuries from a 30-foot fall at quarry in Crooked Creek township on June 7.

Jason Danielson, 30, was marking state forest boundary lines at 10:30 that morning when he fell at the quarry, which is north of the Reno Campground.

He was air-lifted to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, where he remained in the Intensive Care Unit as of June 10, his mother, Linda Danielson, told The Argus that day.

Linda said that Jason had multiple fractures, including three in his back. He had a head injury, was on a ventilator, and had a drainage tube in his right lung, she said.

Jason will undergo back surgery this week. He was able to move his toes and legs, and family members hoped that would improve, Linda said.

ìîWeíre thankful that heís alive, I guess,î she said. ìWeíre hoping for a recovery. But itís going to take a very long time.î

She added that fellow DNR workers have been very supportive. ìIt was just a freak accident,î she said.

Randy Mell, DNR forester for Houston County, gave the following account to The Argus of the accident:

Jason, a general laborer for the DNR, was working with Bob Cramer in the quarry area, checking the boundaries of the forest land.

They found a sign that was missing, and since they were close to the quarry, they wanted to look at the view from the top of the quarry on the south side.

ìJason got out on the rim rock just a little bit and slipped. He fell 30 feet to the quarry floor and tumbled another 20 feet through the rubble,î Mell said.

Jason was unconscious, so Cramer ran to the DNR truck which was parked in the parking lot on Hillside Road. He drove to Reno where a woman helped him call 9-1-1. Both Brownsville and New Albin rescue squads responded.

When Cramer returned, Danielson was conscious. He wa put on a back board, placed in the back of the pick up, and driven to the parking lot on Hillside Road. From there he was transferred to an ambulance, which took him to the Breezy Point pull-off area on Highway 26 a mile north of Reno. A medical helicopter landed there, picked him up, and took him to Gundersen Lutheran. Danielson was awake and talking by that time.

Danielson has feeling in all of his extremities, but he has a ìone severe breakî in his back, Mell said on June 11.

ìPeople have to be so careful on these vertical cliffs,î Mell said. ìI know they were being careful about things. It was just one of those things that has happened.î

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