Chico Enterprise-Record
CHICO, Calif. — About three dozen firefighters crowded around a deep trench off Orchard Blossom Lane north of Chico Monday, their eyes focused on a few men at the bottom using jacks and plywood to keep dirt walls from caving in.
It wasn't an emergency, but it was training for what could become a life and death struggle in a construction trench collapse.
Cal Fire-Butte County supervised what firefighter Scott McLean said is called trench rescue training. The hands-on course is given once every two or three years, and refresher courses are taken approximately every six months so firefighters can stay certified and ready to respond, McLean said.
Firefighters from Oroville, Chico, El Medio, Paradise and Butte County were there Monday.
Rescue techniques include a team of five or six firefighters using plywood and boards to construct walls to shore-up collapsing trenches.
McLean said these are usually made on the spot, since the wooden walls are too bulky to store or keep on engines.
Once walls are made and inserted into a trench, manual or hydraulic jacks are wedged between the boards and apply pressure to keep the dirt in place.
On Monday, McLean said, firefighters were using the high-tech hydraulic jack, but also training with simple metal jacks placed on either end of a four-by-four and operated by hand.
Once dirt is stabilized, pulling out a victim from the loose soil is usually fairly easy, McLean said.
McLean said all trench rescues are done without the aid of running machines, which can cause vibrations that might hasten a cave-in.
Monday was the last day of a three-day course, McLean said.
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