50-year-old man rescued after trench collapse in Oxford Township

A 50-year-old worker was rescued nearly five hours after a trench collapse on Tuesday in Oxford Township.

Fire Chief Matt Majestic said that at about 3:45 p.m., first responders were called to the Brabb-Dewey subdivision, where a new sewer system was being installed. Majestic says the worker from the Swartz Creek area was walking alongside a trench when it "gave way," causing him to fall in.

Majestic says the man fell next to a trench box, which he believes likely saved his life. The worker was trapped from the waist down, but was still able to communicate with authorities, Majestic said.

"He was in pretty good spirits, all things considered," Majestic said of the worker during the rescue. "Upon my arrival, I was the safety officer and was on the east side of the trench with him and maintaining verbal contact with him, talking to him the whole time, and he was doing really well."

"He could tell he was in a standing position. He could tell that he could move his toes inside his boots and everything was feeling good," Majestic added.

Majestic says crews were able to get the man out of the trench at about 8:05 p.m. He says the man, who insisted on climbing up the ladder from the trench, was being airlifted to a hospital for evaluation.

No other injuries were reported, according to authorities.

"Our biggest concern is that because he was in soil for so long from the waist down, that we have concern of compression," Majestic said.

Majestic says they initiated the Oakland County tech rescue team, resulting in a mutual-aid response from surrounding agencies. He says they installed panels around the man to prevent further soil from falling in and used a vactor truck to collect the soil.

Majestic says they reported the incident to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

"Luckily, he's out and alive," he said.

This trench collapse is the third in Oakland County in the last few months.

On June 30, a 35-year-old Ira Township man was among the workers installing field tile for a septic system on Barber Road. The sheriff's office says that when the man entered the trench, it collapsed, burying him in the soil. Twenty-four hours later, a 25-year-old Clarkston man became trapped after a trench collapsed at a subdivision that was under construction in Orion Township.

Both men were expected to survive.

During that time, another trench collapse occurred in Livingston County, where a 23-year-old man died from his injuries.