UPDATE trench rescue 1100 block of Towlston Road: technical rescue crews continue work to extricate individual. #FCFRD #FairfaxCounty pic.twitter.com/9jAvOx50lq
— Fairfax Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) September 25, 2019
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue crews freed a construction worker trapped in a trench Monday morning outside a home in the 1100 block of Towlston Road in McLean, Virginia.
The worker fell into the trench and was pinned up against the home’s foundation about 8 feet down, according to Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Lt. Daniel Gajewski.
“He was buried about up to his waist,” Gajewski said. “He was in and out of consciousness.”
For hours, crews had been trying to gently dig the worker out.
Crucial to the rescue was shoring up the trench itself and making it safe, Gajewski said.
Crews also removed a huge amount of dirt from the trench to make the rescue.
“It was a lot,” Gajewski said.
Once they relieved some of the pressure on the worker, and he became fully conscious, they actually gave him a shovel so that he could help dig himself out.
He was taken to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Two people had originally been trapped but the first freed himself.
Towlston Road north of Leigh Mill Road was closed for the emergency response.
It’s the second time this year that someone has gotten stuck in a trench in McLean.
In July, a young worker was killed and a man was hurt after they were trapped working in a trench on a construction site.
WTOP’s John Domen reported from McLean, Virginia.
