SPOKANE, Wash. — A City of Spokane employee was injured by a skid steer during leaf pick up in North Spokane on Tuesday, according to a Spokane Public Works spokesperson.
According to Marlene Feist, the employee was doing leaf pick up in the area of North Madison Street and West Nora Avenue Tuesday afternoon when the incident occurred.
The employee was part of a team pushing leaves for pickup, Feist said.
Feist said the employee was taken to Sacred Heart for their injuries. The extent of the person’s injuries is unknown but Feist said they are expected to recover.
The City of Spokane picks up leaves that fall into city streets several times a year, according to the city website. The pickup usually takes four to six weeks, according to the city.
On Tuesday, crews were scheduled to be picking up leaves in Shiloh Hills, the areas south of Hawthorne Road, north of Francis Avenue, West of Nevada Street and East of Division Street, and the East Sprague area south of Sprague Avenue, North of I-90, west of the east city limits and east of the Spokane River.
According to the city website, there are three different types of crews that pickup leaves: a hand pick crew, loadal crew and packer crew.
Handpick crews use dump trucks, loadal crews use two 10-wheel dump trucks with front-end scoops and packer crews use rubber-bladed tractors to push the leaves down the gutter to a loader, which pushes the leaves into a garbage packer to be hauled off, according to the city.
This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.
