YONKERS, N.Y. -- There was a dramatic trench rescue in Yonkers on Friday.

A man doing waterproofing work along the foundation of a home was trapped when the trench he was working in collapsed.

Yonkers firefighters broke through the foundation from inside the home to relieve some of the pressure, attached a harness to the man and pulled him out of the hole using a fire truck ladder.

"He was pinned between a boulder that was hitting him in the back and the wall of the home," Yonkers fire commissioner Tony Pagano said. "We were actually hand-digging in the hole ourselves, hand-dig it so we could release some of the pressure around his lungs."

The man was awake during the entire rescue. He was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated.