Construction worker rescued after falling into 8-foot trench in Phoenix
Construction worker rescued after falling into 8-foot trench in Phoenix
Crews rescued a construction worker who fell into a deep trench in Phoenix. ?It takes a lot of hands to make sure something like this happens quickly, to make sure this man gets saved as quickly as possible."
PHOENIX - Crews rescued a construction worker who fell into a deep trench in Phoenix.
According to Phoenix Fire, the incident happened on April 5 near Interstate 17 and Central Avenue after he tripped and fell while working at a construction site.
Firefighters arrived at the scene and found the man who was unable to move due to severe back pain. Before pulling the man out of the trench with a ladder truck, crews had to shore up the area around him.
"The goal at this point is to make sure the area is shored completely, that it is safe for the rescuers to perform their rescue," Capt. Scott Douglas said.
The worker was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
"Successful outcome and that’s what we hope for in situations like this. There’s a lot of danger in trenches and we don’t want any collapse to happen," says Phoenix Fire Captain Scott Douglas. "With this much weight in the dirt, if it does collapse on him, it would prevent him from being able to breathe. We obviously don’t want to see anybody down there and have multiple victims. So our goal is to make sure the area is shored completely and that it’s safe for the rescuers to perform their rescue."
An incident like this is something crews train for every month.
"It takes a lot of hands to make sure something like this happens quickly, to make sure this man gets saved as quickly as possible," Douglas said.
They attached a specially designed stretcher to the ladder truck and swung it down. Then Phoenix Fire says they carefully strapped him in and brought him up to safety.
"He’s definitely lucky. It could have been a lot worse. Great outcome for everybody. He is experiencing some back pain, so he’ll be evaluated for any injuries he might have, but definitely very lucky compared to what might have happened," Douglas said.
The construction site is back to normal operations, ready for more work to be done on it.
Construction worker rescued after falling into 8-foot trench in Phoenix
The worker may have suffered a back injury after falling into the 8-foot trench, firefighters said.
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