Oakland County sheriff speaks out following recent trench collapses
On Tuesday, a 50-year-old man was rescued in Oxford Township after getting trapped when a trench collapsed at a work site. This was the second trench collapse in Oxford and the third in Oakland County just this summer
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been notified of the incident and is now conducting an investigation, but Sheriff Mike Bouchard says these incidents are becoming increasingly regular.
"You know this is our third one this year, and our first one he was completely covered and in really bad shape," Oxford Fire Chief Matt Majestic said on Tuesday.
On June 30, a 35-year-old man from Ida Township was installing a septic system at a residence in Oxford Township when a trench collapsed and completely buried him. The next day, a 25-year-old Clarkston man was digging a sanitary sewer in Orion Township when a trench collapsed on him.
Thankfully, the 50-year-old excavation company employee who was trapped from his waist down Tuesday evening in Oxford Township was in stable condition, but Bouchard says these incidents are happening more and more frequently.
"The callouts for search and rescues are growing exponentially, whether it's something like this. We've had almost a daily callout for somebody in a mental health crisis that's gone off into the woods or by a lake. Or lost children, runaway children, Alzheimer's patients," said Bouchard.
Bouchard says that as search-and-rescue operations become more frequent, there may be nowhere better prepared for them.
"And at this point, the Sheriff coordinated search and rescue team is now the largest team in the country, and with that, it keeps growing our capabilities or abilities to deal with different situations," said Bouchard.
Those capabilities were on full display Tuesday when dozens of first responders from Oakland County's Search and Rescue Team, along with the Oxford Fire Department and multiple technical rescue teams, freed that man from the deep trench in Oxford.
"When everybody gets to go home at the end of the day, and that's the outcome for families and a community, that's a good day," said Bouchard.
All three trench collapses in Oxford Township this summer have occurred on days when temperatures were over 90 degrees. MIOSHA is investigating all three incidents.
