A 43-year-old repairman walking across the roof of the Auburn Mall fell through a skylight to the floor 40 feet below Wednesday afternoon.

Captain Don Flanagan of the Auburn Fire Department said it appears the skylight window may have been covered with snow based on photos taken of the roof from a tower truck sent to the scene.

“It was quite a fall,” Flanagan said. “That he made it alive to the hospital was very lucky for him.”

After initially listing George Beam in critical condition, a nursing supervisor at Central Maine Medical Center said Wednesday night that his condition was not available.

Beam, of Biddeford, was walking toward a heating, ventilation and cooling unit that he was going to repair when he fell into the center court area of the mall. He was taken to the hospital with head injuries.

The area where Beam fell is located just inside an entrance between the information desk and a now-vacant Asian Gourmet restaurant. At 4 p.m., a section of tables and chairs outside the restaurant was still taped off, and a man in a hazardous materials suit and mask scrubbed the tiled floor where Beam fell.

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Auburn police are investigating and hope to determine whether Beam couldn’t see the skylight because it was covered in snow.

Beam works for Biddeford-based Atlantic Comfort Systems, which opened in 1991 and employs 18 technicians, according to its website. A dispatcher said Wednesday the company was not ready to comment. She said Beam was performing maintenance at the building.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified. It was not clear Wednesday whether either the mall or Atlantic Comfort Systems has ever been cited for OSHA violations.

Staff writer Scott Dolan contributed to this report.


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