Post by FIREMAN392 on Dec 9, 2007 12:04:12 GMT -5
Article and Pictures by LancasterOnline.com
City worker rescued from ditch
By MICHAEL SCHWARTZ, Staff Writer
Sunday News
LANCASTER - A Lancaster City Water Bureau worker was rescued shortly before noon today by a Manheim Township fire-rescue unit from a ditch while digging for a water main leak on the 900 block of Louise Avenue.
Rick Kane, Manheim Township Fire-Rescue/Emergency Management chief, said that the worker appeared uninjured but was taken to Lancaster General Hospital as a precaution. A Lancaster General official would not comment.
Kane said that his department received a call from the city around 11 a.m. saying that a worker had become trapped.
"We really have to give kudos to the city," Kane said. "Following the proper procedure and calling 911 and not going into the hole themselves was exactly the right thing to do."
When the rescue team arrived at the scene, the trapped worker was lying on his side in the bottom of a trench Kane described as "very muddy."
It is unclear what caused the collapse — attempts to reach the city water bureau were unsuccessful — but Kane said that two workers were digging to find the source of a water main leak in a 4-foot-square hole that had been dug by a backhoe.
Their digging apparently caused the hole to fill with water, leading one worker to jump out while the other became mired in the mud. Kane said the worker who escaped was "barely even dirty."
To extract the victim, rescue workers laid a ladder across the trench, lowered a ladder into the hole, immobilized the worker and placed him on a long board. They then put the man in a Stokes basket that they raised from the trench with ropes.
The entire rescue took about 15 minutes, Kane said.
"We very rarely see what happened today," said Kane. "I can't even hazard a guess how often we get trench-collapse calls.
"I just really want to emphasize that the city did exactly what you're supposed to in this type of situation."
Units on Scene
CHIEF-20
COLLAPSE-6-5-1
COLLAPSE-6-5-2
ENGINE-2-4-1
MEDIC-6-12-1(M)
QRS-2-4
RESCUE-6-5
SQUAD-2-4-1
SQUAD-2-4-2
SQUAD-6-5-1
TRUCK-2-4(R)
City worker rescued from ditch
By MICHAEL SCHWARTZ, Staff Writer
Sunday News
LANCASTER - A Lancaster City Water Bureau worker was rescued shortly before noon today by a Manheim Township fire-rescue unit from a ditch while digging for a water main leak on the 900 block of Louise Avenue.
Rick Kane, Manheim Township Fire-Rescue/Emergency Management chief, said that the worker appeared uninjured but was taken to Lancaster General Hospital as a precaution. A Lancaster General official would not comment.
Kane said that his department received a call from the city around 11 a.m. saying that a worker had become trapped.
"We really have to give kudos to the city," Kane said. "Following the proper procedure and calling 911 and not going into the hole themselves was exactly the right thing to do."
When the rescue team arrived at the scene, the trapped worker was lying on his side in the bottom of a trench Kane described as "very muddy."
It is unclear what caused the collapse — attempts to reach the city water bureau were unsuccessful — but Kane said that two workers were digging to find the source of a water main leak in a 4-foot-square hole that had been dug by a backhoe.
Their digging apparently caused the hole to fill with water, leading one worker to jump out while the other became mired in the mud. Kane said the worker who escaped was "barely even dirty."
To extract the victim, rescue workers laid a ladder across the trench, lowered a ladder into the hole, immobilized the worker and placed him on a long board. They then put the man in a Stokes basket that they raised from the trench with ropes.
The entire rescue took about 15 minutes, Kane said.
"We very rarely see what happened today," said Kane. "I can't even hazard a guess how often we get trench-collapse calls.
"I just really want to emphasize that the city did exactly what you're supposed to in this type of situation."
Units on Scene
CHIEF-20
COLLAPSE-6-5-1
COLLAPSE-6-5-2
ENGINE-2-4-1
MEDIC-6-12-1(M)
QRS-2-4
RESCUE-6-5
SQUAD-2-4-1
SQUAD-2-4-2
SQUAD-6-5-1
TRUCK-2-4(R)
