The Kings Mountain Herald
March 6, 2008
LOCAL
Rescuers lend a hand to save a hand
EMILY WEAVER
eweaver@kingsmountainherald.com
A man nearly lost his hand on
Thursday afternoon after an
industrial accident at the
Cheyenne International plant at
701 S. Battleground Avenue, in
Grover.
Timmy Saldo, 35, was work-
ing his post when his hand was
skewered and caught in a
machine around 1 p.m. Grover
Rescue Chief David Campbell
said that the machine had
spikes spaced about a quarter of
an inch apart. One of the spikes
went into his hand and pulled it
up into rollers in the machine.
His hand, although bloody
and now impaled by at least
two spikes, was still attached as
crews worked feverishly to free
him. It took six rescue depart-
ments, multiple Jaws of Life
and over two hours to free
Saldo from the machine. Grover
Rescue, Kings Mountain
Rescue, Cleveland County
EMS, Grover Rural, Township 3
and Bethlehem volunteer fire
departments all came to the res-
cue.
Campbell said that a helicop-
ter was flown in to transport
Saldo to Carolinas Medical
Center. He added that a second
helicopter, carrying a trauma
surgeon, was also flown to the
scene in case the hand needed
to be amputated in order to free
him from the machine’s grasp.
“Cleveland Regional advised
that they could not handle the
hand injury so the level one
trauma center got the surgeon
to come down here to do what-
ever we had to do,” said
Cleveland County EMS Shift
Captain Jackie McCurry.
“They actually got it (the
hand) out (of the machine) right
before the helicopter landed
with the trauma surgeon,”
Campbell said.
“We finally pried the machine
open using the Jaws of Life,”
McCurry added.
Saldo was airlifted to CMC
after he was extricated from the
machine. “He was stable
throughout and they did not
have to amputate and hopefully
hell be fine,” McCurry said on
Thursday, outside of the plant.
One of Thursday's rescuers,
Grover Firefighter Jody Byers
has stayed informed of Saldo’s
condition. He said that doctors
were going to let him out of the
hospital on Saturday, but they
ran into some complications.
Saldo is still in a lot of pain and
doctors are not quite sure about.
two of his fingers, Byers said.
Rescue workers were hon-
ored at the Grover fire station,
on Friday, for their heroic
actions, dedication and use of
equipment in freeing Saldo.
Hurst Jaws of Life, in Shelby,
who manufactures the Jaws of
Life tools used in helping save
Saldo’s hand, presented rescue
workers with certificates, hel-
met stickers and patches.
“Although you are a volunteer,
you are a professional. You
made a very big difference in
.somebody’s life yesterday,” said
Director of Marketing: at Hurst
Aaron Guenther. “The rescue
could have been much worse.”
_ After presenting them with
awards, Guenther asked them
about the rescue and how the
tools came in handy.
“We were trying to make
enough room to get the spread-
ers (Jaws of Life) into the rollers
in the back of the machine,”
said Grover Assistant Fire Chief
Jimmy Hensley, in order to gain
access to the rollers and Saldo’s
hand.
One of the departments” Jaws
of Life was broken during the
rescue. Hensley said that with
the spreader jamming and
breaking, it “allowed room in
front for the other spreader
(Jaws: of Life) which actually
allowed us to free him. The
tools working hand-in-hand
did the job.”
“Well, we're happy you broke
the tool using it,” Guenther told
them.
They jokingly suggested a
free Jaws of Life from Hurst to
replace the broken one, which
belongs to KM Rescue Squad.
“It was a good effort from
everybody. You probably could-
n't have asked for a better scene
Marketing Aaron Guenther. Hurst, which manufactures the Jaws of Life used to rescue a man, who got
his hand stuck in a machine on Thursday, honored rescuers on Friday afternoon at the Grover Fire
Station.
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Timmy Saldo’s hand caught in machine at Cheyenne International in Grover
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
Cleveland County EMS Shift Captain Jackie McCurry and Grover
Rescue Chief David Campbell talk to reporters outside of Cheyenne
International, in Grover, on Thursday after a two-and-a-half hour res-
cue, freeing a man who got his
machines.
to be handled and run as good
as everything went once every-
body got on the scene and start-
ed doing their job. It was one of
the best operations I've been
on,” said Grover Firefighter
Chris Swanson.
hand stuck in one of the plant's
“I want to express my person-
al thanks for your service to the
community because that’s what
it’s all about,” Guenther said.
McCurry said that the
Cheyenne plant manufactures
cigarettes.
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