FDNY firefighters worked for an hour in brutal heat Tuesday to rescue a plumber who got buried up to his waist in a trench collapse.
The incident occurred while he was working on the excavation phase of a 6-story new building project, ABC 7 reported.
Officials said he was excavating eight feet of soil to gain access to a foundation wall to install piping when the soil collapsed and pinned him against the wall from the waist down.
Battalion Chief John Sarrocco, explained: "At that point, we have a technical response, which is our rescue units and EMS Special Operations Medics responding. We supported the trench with some wood cribbing, tied the victim off with a harness from a high-point anchor, and we started to work on extricating him from the hole. We called in our counterparts with ConEd with their vacuum truck to vacuum some of the dirt around the victim. We also sent a rescue medic into the trench to offer critical care that the victim needed."
He was transported to a hospital for treatment.
The city's building officials issued summonses to the general contractor for, supported pipe scaffolding not maintained per code, failure to obtain an electrical permit for temporary electrical work and failure to notify for Earthwork operation, the station reported.
The plumbing sub-contractor was cited for failure to provide protection for the excavation operation.
