Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Smith has worked a lot of years in the fire service in Orange Beach, but something happened on Aug. 28th he’d never heard of before.

A woman was on the beach in front of the Phoenix West II when a flying umbrella, made airborne by the wind, came down and punctured her leg. The victim was taken to the hospital by life flight from Orange Beach Fire Station 1.

“It was still impaled (in the woman’s leg),” Smith said. “I’ll be honest with you, I’ve seen those things blowing down the beach when storms roll up. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened, but I don’t know of any times in the past during my time here. I’ve never responded to one.”

Crews cut the top of the umbrella off and left it in the woman’s leg when he was transported.

“We treated the patient, and we transferred them to Aircare and flew them to the hospital, University in Mobile,” Smith said.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that beach umbrella-related incidents send approximately 3,000 people to the hospital each year.