Brandon Township Fire Chief Davis Kwapis says this time the guy was lucky.
The man was inside a trench that was dug to install electrical wiring to a septic tank when the trench collapsed.
But this time it was only waist deep so the guy was conscious and alert the entire time.
He was taken by EMS to McLaren Hospital in Pontiac to get checked out.
The Chief said the mud was “sticky” and made it difficult to extricate the man out.
A specialized team used a vacuum truck to suction the mud out of the trench. It took three hours to make the delicate rescue.
The same team responded one week ago to Sterling Heights for another trench collapse that killed a man.
These are preventable if crews use shoring equipment or a trench box that keeps the sides from collapsing.
