LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In a scene right out of a movie, Louisville firefighters with specialized rescue training pull an injured worker who was stuck for over eight hours in rubble Thursday.
“He fell down and a lot of dirt and gravel and rocks and slabs of concrete came down on top of him, burying him in a confined space,” said Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill. “It’s almost like he’s at the base of a funnel because you could kind of see where everything fell down to where he was. So as you’re moving stuff away, everything’s wanting to fall down and continually come down around him. So you dig out as much as you can and a lot of it’s by hand because you have to move slowly.”
The incident happened around 11 a.m. O’Neill says the man fell 10-11 feet into a gap of rubble at a demolition site.
The chief says firefighters and EMS could eventually reach the trapped man and get his arm free, allowing them to provide medical attention while others worked to get him out.
Firefighters who responded to this call also assisted in the rescue of a truck driver whose vehicle was left dangling over the side of the 2nd Street Bridge in March, according to O’Neill.
And in what was a pure coincidence, the department just so was in the middle of training for situations like a trapped person, when the call came in Thursday morning.
“We were right in the middle of that,” O’Neill said. “So when they were in the classroom there, they said, hey, wrap it up, we’re going to do on-the-job training. And they got those folks out there to help out.”
He adds around a third of the department has training in these kinds of rescues.
“Whatever kept that void in front of his face that allowed him to continue to breathe, some angel was on his shoulder to allow that to happen. Because a lot, nine times out of ten, those situations are recovery. They’re not rescued,” said Jeff Taylor, president of Louisville Professional Firefighters Local 54. He is also a 20-year veteran of LFD.
Taylor says this rescue, paired with their response to a deadly explosion earlier this week, and the 2nd Street Bridge incident, spotlights the invaluable work of first responders.
“Just cannot be underestimated, the value of your firefighters, you know, throughout this community and throughout the country. They do it every day,” Taylor said.
Louisville Major Craig Greenberg, D-Ky., echoed that sentiment Friday and shared update that the injured man rescued is doing well.
“The medics that were on site that were treating him yesterday that were treating him while he was being rescued probably helped further injuries or worse,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg adds work will eventually continue on clearing out the demolition site, which will be the future home of a green space in the heart of the city’s medical district.