Industrial accident leaves teenager critically injured

An accident with an auger machine Monday at an Ashford business left a 15-year-old boy from Pansey hospitalized and in critical condition.

Ashford Police Chief Jim Stanley said police were called to an industrial accident at Summerford Pallet in Ashford where they found Brian Jacobs Jr. had fallen into an auger machine. Stanley said Jacobs had been helping his stepfather, Jeff Davis, while he worked at Summerford Pallet, which is located near old Highway 84 and Houston County Road 55.

Stanley said police responded to the emergency call just after 2 p.m. and the teenager was rescued from the machine around 5:15 p.m.

“They had to cut the machine apart with torches and saws,” Stanley said.

Stanley said more than two dozen emergency personnel worked much of Monday afternoon to rescue the boy from the machine. Emergency workers from the Dothan Fire Department, Houston County Sheriff’s Office, Ashford police, fire and rescue, along with others from area volunteer fire departments helped with the rescue.

“He was standing up there on the platform and for some reason he fell down in the auger,” Stanley said. “It’s just by the grace of God he didn’t lose his legs because it’s a shredding machine. It grinds up wooden mulch.”

Stanley said five or six doctors and five or six nurses were called to the business as part of an emergency response trauma team from Southeast Alabama Medical Center.

“They had a mini hospital set up right there, and they were ready to do surgery right there on the scene,” Stanley said.

But he said an AIRHeart helicopter took the boy to the nearby SAMC where he had surgery Monday evening. Stanley said the boy’s injuries did not appear to be life threatening.