Speed and Precision Are Needed To Rescue Workers Buried Alive
A worker was buried with only his hand and wrist visible above the huge pile of dirt in a 15-ft-wide by 8-ft-deep trench that had just collapsed. "His buddies had a Ditch Witch about the size of the ones they use at a cemetery," says David Grice, an engineer with the Goldsboro Fire Dept. engine company that responded to the emergency. "They were about to crank it up and dig him out. But wary of possible consequences of that maneuver, Grice ordered the workers to turn the equipment off and step aside. "They would have killed him, he says.
Goldsboros small fire department wasted no time dispatching the engine company and a ladder company to the stricken construction site as soon as the call came in. The town did not have a special rescue unit at the time but Grice and another firefighter had been through trench rescue training. "The lieutenant hollered at me. I jumped in my pickup and followed the ladder truck, he says.