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Friday, September 8, 2006
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School cook is trapped in freezer
Staff Writer A cook for the Brainerd School District was trapped for more than two hours in a school walk-in freezer Wednesday morning until another employee heard her pounding on the door and let her out.
Brainerd Superintendent Jerry Walseth said Thursday that the latch on the heavy freezer door malfunctioned, trapping the unidentified cook in the walk-in storage freezer early Wednesday morning at Washington Educational Services Building in Brainerd. The district has a food service contract with St. Francis of the Lakes Catholic School where the cook primarily works but she is employed by the school district.
The cook went into the freezer at Washington about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday to straighten up the area and take inventory when the door malfunctioned, trapping her inside for two hours, 10 minutes, said Denise Sundquist, the district's health and safety coordinator. The cook was wearing a heavy coat and gloves but remained in the freezer until 9:40 a.m. when the building engineer noticed the cook's car parked outside of Washington when she should have been at St. Francis and went inside to investigate. He found her pounding on the freezer door for help, Walseth said.
"What could have been a harrowing event turned into a celebration that she was OK," said Walseth. "We're fortunate she's OK."
Sundquist said the door was immediately repaired by a local refrigeration company but officials felt the door's lock could potentially malfunction again. The door was then padlocked shut and a new freezer door has been ordered.
"We were all horribly upset," Sundquist said of the accident. "She's traumatized. It's awful to be locked in a freezer for 2-1/2 hours. We don't know when the latch went bad. It was just an unfortunate, unfortunate event. We feel awful."
Sundquist said the cook went back to work at St. Francis School after her ordeal Wednesday and was going to visit a doctor Thursday to make sure she didn't suffer any lasting injuries by becoming trapped in the freezer.
JODIE TWEED can be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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