2 Freed From Dirt Trap : Rescue: After two hours, two geologists are dug out from a 12-foot-deep trench that collapsed in Anaheim Hills.

In a dramatic, two-hour rescue, two geologists were freed from a death trap of dirt Thursday after one wall of a 12-foot-deep trench collapsed on them at an Anaheim Hills construction site.

Five construction workers scooped dirt with their hands and shovels to unearth the head of Jim Glomb, 41, who was buried beneath about two feet of soil after the trench gave way.

“We could hear him yell, hear him scream when we first got here,” said Anaheim Firefighter Jody Ballard, whose crew arrived about 10 minutes after the collapse. “It’s really amazing he survived.”

It took about two hours for rescue workers to dig out Glomb, who was fed oxygen through a mask during the rescue. He emerged conscious from a 10-foot hole dug by firefighters and was taken to United Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he was in stable condition Thursday night with a broken right arm.

The other geologist, Chris Tomlin, 36, was buried to his waist and freed in about 40 minutes. Tomlin was taken to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Anaheim, where he was examined and released.

The trench was in the side of a hill next to the end of Anise Street, a cul-de-sac near the intersection of Santa Ana Canyon and Weir Canyon roads. The geologists, employees of G.A. Nicolls & Associates of Tustin, were testing the soil before it was graded for Phase 2 of The Highlands housing development in the Anaheim Hills area.

A state safety inspector who was at the site said the geologists should not have gone into a trench that deep without shoring it up first.

The rescue effort involved everyone from construction workers from other projects to residents of an adjacent housing tract. When homeowner Michael Parker heard the firefighters call for plywood to shore up the trench, he didn’t think twice about tearing the doors off the tool cabinet in his garage.

“What’s there to think about?” Parker said. “I ripped it right out of the wall.”

Fred Scheffer, a Boulder, Colo., resident who was visiting his daughter, brought two gallons of drinking water and a stack of plastic cups for the rescue workers.

“I tried to do what little bit I could to help,” Scheffer said.

Firefighters supported the sides of the trench with plywood and braced the plywood with 2-by-4 lumber, much of which was gathered from the back yards and workshops of neighbors. Two construction workers who were supposed to be laying sidewalks in the area left their job and carried plywood on their backs to the rescue site.

“We did a lot of improvisation, as we usually do,” said Anaheim Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Magliocco. “It was a real nice team effort.”

The first reward came when Tomlin was dug out about 40 minutes after firefighters were called at 2:40 p.m. His clothes stained with dirt, the bearded Tomlin was strapped to a backboard and loaded into an ambulance.

Freeing Glomb was more complicated.

Bill Guthridge, site superintendent for builder Presley of Southern California, was one of the first people on the scene after the trench collapsed.

“We got his head exposed in about 15 minutes,” Guthridge said of Glomb. “We knew right where to dig because we knew where he had been.”

As more rescue workers arrived, some used shovels to remove the dirt from around Glomb’s body while others worked to stabilize the trench above where it had collapsed. Firefighters called out the length of the 2-by-4 needed to brace the 4-foot-wide trench, and a construction worker cut the wood using a chain saw.

As Glomb’s upper body was freed, firefighters splinted his broken arm. Finally, at about 4:20 p.m., Glomb was carried out of the trench on a stretcher. His face bloodied above his right eye, Glomb blinked as he responded to paramedics’ questions.

“Can you feel my hands?” a paramedic asked.

“Yeah,” Glomb responded softly.

Within about 40 minutes, a construction worker bulldozed the trench, and firefighters cleared the area. About 30 people assisted in the rescue, including 16 firefighters.

An investigator from Cal/OSHA was on the scene and said state and federal laws require that any trench deeper than five feet be shored up or sloped before workers can enter. The trench that collapsed Thursday was neither, said William Loupe, a compliance safety engineer.

“A citation will likely be issued to the company,” Loupe said of G.A. Nicolls & Associates.