Fire crews in Kansas City spent part of Tuesday, July 14, cutting into a portable toilet near 18th and Paseo after finding a man stuck in the unit’s waste tank. Video that spread quickly online shows firefighters using a saw to slice open the side of the plastic porta-john, then hosing the man off before he left the scene. The toilet had been set up for a World Cup watch party and was being retrieved when a service driver noticed the door was locked and contacted his company and documented the situation. City Open Data KC lists Paseo & 18th in a Paseo-Signals dataset, identifying the intersection in Kansas City. According to Open Data KC, the city's emergency incident dataset (https://data.kcmo.org/api/views/3beb-q36m/rows.csv) includes fields such as 'Incident Address,Latitude,Longitude,Additional Questions'.
How the rescue unfolded
According to The Kansas City Star, Kansas City Fire Department crews were dispatched between about 10 and 11 a.m., then used a saw to open the portable toilet and pull the man out of the tank. Both the newspaper’s account and the video show firefighters rinsing him off with a hose before he walked away. According to FEMA's National Fire Academy materials, confined-space rescue operations are treated as specialized incidents requiring dedicated training and procedures. According to the KCFD website, "KCFD is an all-hazards department, responding not only to fires, but also to medical emergencies, technical rescues, hazardous materials incidents, and ..."
Company account and the viral clip
In its write-up of the incident, Patriot Portable Restrooms said one of its drivers returned after the World Cup watch party to collect units and found a locked door that would not open. The worker knocked, left, then came back and contacted his company and documented the situation when no one responded or exited. The company says the video of the rescue quickly exploded on its social channels, pulling in thousands of likes as local media outlets picked up the story. According to the Portable Sanitation Association International, "All portable restroom services shall comply with. PSAI Portable Sanitation Professional Certification. Standards for health and safety. 19. All services need to ..."
How someone could fit inside
Joe Shelton, president of Patriot Portable Restrooms, told The Kansas City Star that many portable toilets use an oval holding drum about the size of a 55-gallon barrel, which means a smaller person can, in rare situations, maneuver down into the tank. Shelton also said the blue odor-control liquid is soap-based rather than acutely toxic, and the Star notes that the company’s TikTok video has drawn more than 10 million views. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an OSHA construction incident report describes a case involving a portable toilet where workers suffered severe injuries and notes that "Two employees sustained injuries although this incident could have resulted in multiple fatalities." According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, allowing portable toilet facilities "will enhance employee safety" and the agency discussed related requirements for locks.
Aftermath and what officials are saying
Kansas City Fire Department Battalion Chief and public information officer Riley Nolan told Northeast News that the man declined medical treatment after being freed and simply walked away. No arrests were made, according to the department. Patriot Portable Restrooms said it was grateful no one was injured and has leaned into the viral attention while cautioning viewers that its crews are on the job and this is definitely not something anyone should try to copy.
