When Pedro woke up from a nine-day induced coma in which he claims I am dead On two occasions, he only remembered an earlier moment, in which he grabbed a battered stick that failed to prevent him from falling nearly ten metres after saving the life of a young man at the La Montañeta juvenile centre in Gran Canaria.
The day he almost died, July 6, 2020, he started with a hard day of work, like almost everyone else, talking with his colleague Carlos Domínguez about the future and retirement, a retirement far from the fire, hospitals, anesthesiologists and abysses. At that time, Pedro was 57 years old and had been serving the citizens of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for 41 years.
The firefighter recounts a professional life in which he and his colleagues have had to do real “juggling” and improvise in emergencies to overcome the lack of necessary equipment in each situation that arises, none of which is identical to the previous one.
That afternoon in July, they received an urgent call from the La Montañeta juvenile centre in Gran Canaria, where they found an inmate who had climbed a fence about eight metres high, not like the ones that now cover the centre, but a flimsy mesh like those that used to mark the boundaries of agricultural fences. Pedro didn’t think twice, even though he didn’t have the necessary equipment, and tried to approach the young man to dissuade him from the danger he was exposing himself to. At one point, the young man violently shook the mesh and Pedro tried to avoid falling by holding on to a pole in poor condition, falling into the void.
“At that time the young man was a minor, now he is a man,” recalls Pedro, who makes no further comment about the boy and does not hesitate to indicate the place where the fall took place. on sitecompleting his story with the help of his partner Carlos Dominguez, with whom he once spoke about his retirement plans. Dominguez does not forget “the sound of the fall” and did not want to comment in front of his teammate on the thoughts that froze his blood at that moment.
Such a tragedy should not cause more inconvenience than it does: three surgeries to save internal organs such as the liver, an induced coma for a month, physical disability, but sometimes the administration does not respond.
The inspection carried out by the Ministry of Labor resolved a case of surcharge of 40%, or 39,708.03 euros, to be paid by the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria “due to the lack of safety and health measures at work” in application of article 164 of Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30, which approves the consolidated text of the General Law of Social Security. At the hearing, held 24 days after the accident, both parties accepted and no allegations regarding payment were presented. The National Social Security Institute corroborated the resolution and, however, four years later, the City Council continues without paying Pedro.
