Man Dies in Construction Cave-In : Glendale: Firefighters try for an hour to free a 33-year-old foreman buried headfirst in a trench.

A 33-year-old drilling company foreman died Friday when a trench caved in, burying him headfirst at a hotel construction site in Glendale.

Only Enrique Ayala’s feet were visible when firefighters arrived about 8 a.m. to rescue him, authorities said. Two of the victim’s brothers, who also work for Malcolm Drilling Co., watched as the firefighters spent an hour working with shovels, buckets and their hands to free him.

“I was impatient,” said one of the victim’s brothers, Manuel Ayala of Sylmar, who rushed to Glendale after hearing of the accident. “I was hoping they’d have more people helping. I wanted to help, but they wouldn’t let me go near it.”

When Enrique Ayala was freed, paramedics administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation and rushed him to Glendale Adventist Medical Center. But hospital spokeswoman Sandra Wachter-Van said he was dead on arrival.

A company spokesman said Enrique Ayala, who lived in Pacoima, was worried about another worker’s safety at the time the accident occurred at 100 W. Glenoaks Blvd., beside the Verdugo Wash.

“Ayala was explaining to a laborer not to stand near the edge of the hole because of a possibility of a cave-in,” said Shah Arfania, controller of Malcolm Drilling. “He was directing the laborer away from that area. The next thing that happened is that the hole caved in and Enrique fell in headfirst, with the rubble and dirt on top.”

Arfania said the crew had just used an auger to dig 15 feet down, creating a trench that would be filled with concrete to anchor the $36-million, 18-story Red Lion hotel, a major Glendale redevelopment project. The cave-in occurred before a pipe could be lowered to secure the sides of the trench.

The victim’s younger brother, Phillip Ayala, 24, who was employed at the Glendale site, said he and other workers immediately tried to free the foreman, but were unsuccessful. “It was really packed tight,” he said.

Glendale Fire Capt. Steve Wood said firefighters decided not to use a crane or power tools because they feared that they would further injure Enrique Ayala or destroy any air pocket that might be sustaining him. The fire captain said he understood the impatience of civilian onlookers.

“It’s a very frustrating type of rescue because it has to be slow and meticulous and very deliberate so as not to do any further harm to the individual in the hole,” Wood said. “You also had to be concerned about any second collapse.”

After the incident, the job site was shut down for the day. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office launched investigations, but no immediate findings were released.

Cal-OSHA spokesman Rick Rice said his agency had received no previous complaints regarding the Glendale job site. Records of any recent violations by Malcolm Drilling, which was founded in 1962, were not available Friday, he said.

Malcolm spokesman Arfania said Friday’s incident was his company’s first cave-in death. He said Enrique Ayala had worked for the company since 1987.

Family members said Enrique Ayala grew up in the northeast San Fernando Valley and attended John H. Francis (Polytechnic) High School in Sun Valley. He is survived by three brothers, six sisters and a 10-year-old daughter.

“Everybody got along with him really well,” Manuel Ayala said. “All the laborers would say, ‘Where’s your brother working?’ They all wanted to work for him.”