AMHERST — A college-age man swinging in a hammock on the roof of a South Amherst home suffered non life-threatening injuries when a section of the chimney to which it was attached collapsed onto him Tuesday night.
Amherst Fire Chief Walter “Tim” Nelson said firefighter-paramedics were called to the 585 West St. rental home at 7:49 p.m. after the cinder-block chimney above the roofline fell onto the man using the hammock The other end of the hammock was attached to a fire escape.
“My guess is they had it up there for a while and it weakened the structure and pulled it down,” Nelson said of the fallen chimney.
The victim had injuries consistent with concrete falling onto him. “He got banged up pretty good,” Nelson said. He was taken by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton for treatment, Nelson said.
Nelson said hammocks should never be attached to chimneys, as they are not built to support side loads.
“The stress caused it to fail,” Nelson said.
Residents with hammocks can set them up between trees, Nelson said, though he added that many new hammocks come with their own support structures.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com