Pennsville Fire & Rescue Co. # 1

On May 16, 1996 a Salem County road worker was weed whacking knee high grass and weeds along a guardrail on Swedesboro Rd. in Woodstown, NJ, when he fell into a “hole” up to his neck and was slowly slipping deeper. The local fire chief was listening to his scanner, when he heard the workers radio their base of the situation. The base supervisor told them he would come out to their location and check out the situation.

he local fire chief, from Woodstown’s Reliance Fire Company called 911 and alerted a rescue box to that location, with the addition of Pennsville Fire & Rescue Co.1’s Advanced Technical Rescue (ATR) Team for a possible trench rescue.

The local fire department, Reliance Fire Company, responded and temporarily secured the worker to prevent him from slipping deeper into the hole. They were unable to pull him out because something was sticking him in the back. Rescue 5 and ATR 5 responded, arrived and assessed the situation. It was then determined that the worker was in a 30″ drainage pipe that slanted downward 45 degrees backwards. It continued at that slope for about 50 feet and we were unable to locate the end. After digging four feet deep, behind the worker, the pipe was uncovered. After making a “peep” hole to assess how and where the worker was in the pipe, it was breached about five feet beyond the bottom of his feet with a saw-all, cutting across the radius of the pipe in six inch increments. Upon extrication from the pipe, the worker had no complaints and was discharged from the hospital the same day without injuries.

Responding: E123, U127, R59, ATR57, A58, C5, Field Comm, R251, LS5, Cherry Hill FD (NJ) & Longwood FD (PA) were called for their trench units.

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