Worker Impales Arm on Fence

A 38-year-old worker on an earthquake-repair project fell two stories from a scaffold Monday, impaling his upper arm on a wrought-iron fence.

He was taken with part of the fence still transfixing his arm to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in serious but stable condition after undergoing surgery to remove it, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The worker, whom authorities declined to identify, was working on a house in an exclusive gated community in the 4600 block of Westchester Drive about 3 p.m. when he fell onto a pointed security fence, said Brian Humphrey, a Los Angeles city Fire Department spokesman.

“Paramedics held him steady as they cut him off the fence with the Jaws of Life,” said Humphrey, referring to a device often used to remove accident victims from crushed automobiles.

“It could have caused further injury if they pulled it out, so they wrapped it in place and transported him to the hospital.”