Pyrotechnician Mending After Fall On Space Needle

It appears the Bremerton man who fell from the Space Needle on Tuesday will recover to climb it again next year.

Jeff Kamla, 44, underwent 4 1/2 hours of successful surgery yesterday at Harborview Medical Center to repair ruptured vertebrae. Surgeons grafted and fused a portion of his lower spine. A hospital spokesman said Kamla suffered no neurological damage and is expected to regain full mobility.

Kamla, who was upgraded from serious to satisfactory condition yesterday, will wear a cast for six weeks. On Tuesday night, surgeons repaired Kamla's broken hip and broken leg.

Kamla fell while installing wiring for the Space Needle's New Year's Eve fireworks display. It was the sixth consecutive year Kamla set up fireworks at the Space Needle. All indications are he'll do it again next year.

"He loves being a pyro," his stepdaughter Kristin Dittmar said yesterday from Bremerton's Harrison Memorial Hospital, where she gave birth to a son almost 1 1/2 hours to the minute before her stepfather's fall.

Kamla was installing fireworks on a platform at the 200-foot level of the Space Needle when his safety line got caught on a descending elevator. He was pulled into the elevator's bay and fell about 45 feet before he hit the top of the car. He then climbed out of the elevator bay to a crossbeam, where he waited for help.

Both Kamla's stepdaughter and wife, Lois Kamla, said he was the last person they'd expect to have such an accident.

Kamla has worked in the supply department of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton for 19 years after six years in the Navy.

He is also employed by Pyro Spectaculars of Rialto, Calif., which has put on the New Year's Eve fireworks show at the Space Needle for a number of years.

Meanwhile, inspectors from the state Department of Labor and Industries continued their investigation yesterday, while allowing preparations for last night's fireworks to go on.

The investigation, which aims to determine why Kamla fell and if any safety standards were violated on the job, could take several days or several weeks, according to Labor and Industries spokesman Steve Valandra.

Hugo Kugiya's phone message number is 206-464-2281. His e-mail address is: hkug-new@seatimes.com