[Update] Highway Worker Hurt in Construction Zone North of Weott Wednesday Morning
Stock photo [Photo by Danny Burke on Unsplash]
A highway worker was injured in a construction zone on Highway 101 north of Weott Wednesday morning, prompting a large emergency response that initially included a request for an air ambulance.
Scanner traffic at about 7:15 a.m. indicated a 30-year-old male worker had been injured by a k-rail in the northbound lane construction zone. City ambulance, CAL FIRE, and Myers Flat Fire were dispatched to the scene. CHP was reported at the scene a short while later.
An air ambulance was requested, and a landing zone was designated near the confluence of the Eel River, just north of the construction site. Reach Air Medical Services out of Willits accepted the call around 7:30 a.m. and reported an estimated 45-minute flight to the landing zone.
Just before 8 a.m., the air ambulance was cancelled. The patient, who had reported possible pelvis crush injuries, was transported by ground ambulance instead.
Caltrans Public Information Officer, Manny Machado confirmed the incident stating that construction in the area is being performed by a third-party contractor. At this time, details, including the extent of the construction worker’s injuries, are unknown.
Screenshot of the Caltrans QuickMap indicating two construction zones north of Weott on Hwy 101 and the parrellel, Avenue of the Giants
Caltrans Quickmap shows emergency work currently underway in the southbound lane just north of Weott. A separate slide repair construction project is also ongoing on the northbound side of the parallel Avenue of the Giants/Highway 254.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Update May 15, 2026: Caltrans Public Information Officer, Manny Machado wrote in an email response to our inquiry, “A Pacific Earthscape employee was injured Wednesday morning while working on a Caltrans project along U.S. 101 north of Weott. The worker was transported to a local hospital and treated for a fractured pelvis. Our thoughts are with the injured worker, his family, and the project team. The incident is under investigation.”
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I hope he is OK-rail
That accident sounds very serious when they call in a Life Flight. If the worker was hurt that bad, why in the hell was the Life Flight cancelled. Sending him to the hospital in a ground ambulance was not a good choice. Ground ambulance rides are expensive, and they are usually much slower. Did they take the worker to the Garberville hospital or to Fortuna. I don’t like their decision at all. I do hope the worker will make a complete recovery from his injuries. Being treated like that, if it was me, I would be looking for a new job.
Are you an expert in medical response and transportation? An air ambulance costs far more than a ground ambulance. Perhaps the injuries were not as severe as once thought when the air ambulance was dispatched. You would have to be on scene to determine what the best mode of transport was. I heard the radio traffic, and the victim was being transported to St Joseph hospital in Eureka.
More of an expert than you are. I realize what air ambulances cost because I am a member of one. Putting the worker in a ground ambulance and driving from Weott area to St, Joe’s in Eureka will take much more time, and possibly put the worker’s life in danger. To me that was o ne jackass move!
If you aren’t a Flight Certified Paramedic (meaning qualified to make immediate Emergency Response determinations in the Field for worst case scenarios) and are just a “member” of an Air Medical Insurance Group then you’re making judgements & jumping to conclusions based on your own presumptuousness from a small portion of the totality of facts.
SSDD Martin.
You “may” believe that you know but you don’t KNOW.
You, Sir, are a Certified blow hard!
The 45 minute wait for the air ambulance is longer than the drive to saint joes
A quick google directions search shows about 30 minutes drive to either Fortuna or Garberville. The ambulance would have the patient at a hospital 15 minutes before the air ambulance even showed up.
Ambulance rides can also be painful until the meds kick in.
Imagine taking ground transportation with a presumably crushed pelvis. The bumps in the road could make the pain intolerable. I know. Just a lower broken vertebrae in my back caused much suffering going over a supposedly good road surface. I hope the man got to the hospital without suffering.
They shoot you up with morphine on the gurney, before you go in the ambulance. AND IT WORKS WELL. I have shattered my femur once and I didn’t feel much once the paramedics showed up. I hope he didn’t break his pelvis , that would be a long and painful recovery.
My prayers for this guy.
Hope this young person is gonna be alright. Seriously injured in this area are not taken to garberville or fortuna
they are taken to Eureka ER.
or flown to a more appropriate trauma center.