Exercises focus on below-surface emergencies

By Joanie Baker
Messenger-Inquirer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In the past seven years, firefighters in Louisville have responded to more than 10 emergency situations involving dirt trenches dug throughout the city, officials said.

On Tuesday, Owensboro firefighters spent the afternoon rehearsing techniques for responding to a trench disaster using a freshly dug, 8-foot-deep hole at the Walter L. Freeman Regional Training Center.

Battalion Chief David McCrady said the regional Task Force 3 response team, which responds to hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction in the Green River area, identified different incidents related to their coverage that should be met with training exercises.

Of those incidents, firefighters have received training on confined-space rescue and below-grade-area, or trench-related, rescues. In the future, McCrady said, he would like to see officials undergo training in collapsed-building response techniques as well.

"We've become an all-hazardous response department, and if we don't address the hazards we see in our service area, when an incident arises, we won't be prepared," McCrady said. "And we want to make sure we give the community the best service we can possibly give."

A trench is defined as an excavated area that is more than 5 feet deep and is deeper than it is wide. And with all of the construction projects and new businesses developing throughout the city, McCrady said, there is significant potential for one of the many trenches to result in the use of emergency responders.

According to OSHA standards, all trenches are supposed to be supported by large wooden panels pressed against the dirt walls with shores, or expanding support beams.

Using ropes to lower a 4-foot by 8-foot red panel and pneumatic shores, firefighters used air pressure to make the beams essentially inflate to the width of the trench. A ladder is then lowered into the hole and officials strapped in harnesses can safely climb into the deep ditch for rescues.

While local officials have not had to respond to a trench disaster to date, McCrady said the training is important as there are nearly 100 trench-related deaths annually throughout the country. In the past several months, he said he has been on work sites in the city where crews were working many feet below ground level without proper protection in place.

"It's about like anything else, some places follow OSHA and do a good job protecting employees and others are either uneducated or cut corners and endanger employees," he said. "The hazards are out there and we've got to recognize they're there and be ready to respond to them."

Copyright 2007 Messenger-Inquirer
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News