By EMS1 Staff
UNION CITY, Calif. — A firefighter crew rescued a man who had been stuck inside of a cement hopper for two and a half hours.
According to FOX10, Alameda County Fire Department firefighters secured the worker, who fell into the silo after losing his balance while looking inside, with a harness to prevent any further sinking.
The worker was also given oxygen as crewmembers drained the cement from the bottom to alleviate the dry cement around him.
“Our biggest concern is to make sure he doesn’t get crushed or engulfed with this type of material, we’ve seen it before with other trench calls. He can continue to sink in,” rescue unit Captain Richard Riggs said.
The man was given water throughout the rescue to keep him hydrated.
“These operations in a confined space pose respiratory challenges to the rescuers with a technical response. Fifty percent of casualties are usually rescuers in a confined space,” division chief John Walsh said.
Riggs said the cement is dangerous to work around in a rescue such as this.
“Those of you who have worked around cement, you open a bag, a big poof of dust, it’s the same thing in a giant hopper with thousands of pounds of dry cement,” he said.
The worker was pulled to safety and was able to stand on his own two feet before getting into an ambulance. He is currently recovering at the hospital in an unknown condition.
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