In a late-night rescue operation that stretched into the early hours this morning, emergency crews in Washington County successfully extricated a man from a collapsed trench in Charleroi. According to reports, the call for help came in at around 8:20 p.m. last night with the worker buried chest-deep. The trench was approximately 15 feet deep when it collapsed on the unnamed man.
Charleroi Fire Chief Robert Whiten Jr. described how their team worked to safely free the worker. Using specialized equipment, they had to quickly adapt to loosen the compacted earth. "Crews used an air hose to cut the dirt and a vacuum truck to suck out the loose dirt," Whiten mentioned in a statement detailed by WPXI. A harness was then employed, allowing the man to eventually walk out of the trench unaided, albeit with a possible broken ankle.
The painstaking extraction, completed around 1:30 a.m., required a multifaceted approach due to the treacherous conditions. "The one problem is the dirt's clay, so clay's like concrete," Chief Whiten explained in a CBS News Pittsburgh interview. They had to use a combination of water and an air compressor truck to soften the clay soil before it could be vacuumed away.
OSHA is set to investigate the circumstances leading up to the trench's collapse. Whiten praised the collaborative spirit that prevailed under pressure, "It was just a well-oiled machine, you know, in that area, and it paid off," he told WPXI.
