HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A man stuck in a trench was rescued by the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department on Monday.
When contract workers installed a gas line on Tanner Road near Brittmoore Road in northwest Harris County Monday afternoon, something went wrong.
"He couldn't get out because of the mud, the mess that it was," said John Hurt of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department. "They were working in the trench. Apparently a line broke. Flooded the trench. And the attempts to use a vacuum truck to get the water out, the trench collapsed."
Firefighters said the man was in a box that protected him from being crushed in the 12-to-15-foot hole, but that did not help with the water that kept the 30-year-old worker from escaping without the help of firefighters.
"Trench rescue is pretty spooky because it involved monitoring the air quality in the trench while you've got someone in there. Fortunately, this was someone who was conscious and alert so we were able to talk to him communicate with him. A lot of times, that's not the case."
The man was alert as he was hoisted out of the hole, loaded onto a stretcher and rushed to the hospital.