Contractor falls 4 stories from Doerr School

A contractor fell several stories while working on the roof of a the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability on Saturday afternoon. He was transported to Stanford Hospital, according to fire officials and witness accounts.

The incident was witnessed by Fabian Israel Cornejo ’28 and his partner, Dawson Bone, who said they went to the scene after noticing an emergency call on PulsePoint, a public safety alert application, and listening to radio scanner traffic.

The Palo Alto Fire Department and the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) were first responders on the scene. According to Cornejo, Battalion Chief Marc Muzzi said the worker was injured but stable at the time of transport.

“It is believed that he fell the entire four stories onto the ground,” Cornejo said, citing Muzzi. He added that “the cause of the fall was still under investigation” at the time he was transported.

Fire officials informed Cornejo that the worker had been performing maintenance work on the roof, believed to be gutter cleaning, when the fall occurred. According to Cornejo, Muzzi noted that “the conditions of the roof were wet.”

Palo Alto Fire Station 6 — Stanford’s local fire department — has not responded to request for comment.

Emergency units responding to the scene included Medic 64, Truck 66, Engine 66, Engine 62 and Battalion 66. The injured worker was transported by Medic 64 to Stanford Hospital for treatment. His name has not been released; fire officials said they were unable to provide identifying information because of federal medical privacy laws.

“After noticing the call on the web app called PulsePoint, I listened back to my scanner and heard the radio chatter involving the fall,” Cornejo wrote in a message to The Stanford Daily. “My partner and I then proceeded to head over to the incident location at the Doerr School of Sustainability building where we found multiple fire apparatus parked outside.”

When they arrived, Cornejo said, “We saw there was indeed an active call.” He added that they saw a large group of firefighters taking care of a man on the floor, while the rope of the harness dangled high up.

According to an audio recording sent to The Daily by Cornejo, the fallen contractor was hanging from the harness at the time of the medic’s arrival and was “conscious and breathing.” 

According to Cornejo, the injured worker was eventually placed on a stretcher and taken away by ambulance. “Eventually the man on the floor was moved onto a stretcher and was transported by an ambulance (Medic 64),” he wrote.

Firefighters remained on scene after the transport, along with what Cornejo described as “the distraught co-worker for the injured contractor.” After emergency responders cleared the area, “the co-worker and the belongings of the injured [were left] behind,” he said.

The University has not responded to a request for comment.

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