Workers Buried Under Wall

A six-foot cement block wall under construction in a back yard collapsed on two workers Thursday, trapping them in a ditch under several feet of dirt for nearly two hours, but they escaped with relatively minor injuries.

The accident occurred about 3:30 p.m. in the back yard of a house in the 11200 block of Yolanda Avenue, said Alex Arriola, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The men were freed by a crew of 50 from the Los Angeles Fire Department, including 20 members of the Urban Search and Rescue team, some of whom worked to free those trapped following the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, Arriola said.

The unidentified workers were taken to Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, one with a minor injury to the left wrist and the other with a possible fractured right leg, said Jim Wells, a spokesman for the Fire Department.

Three men had been working in the yard to reinforce the wall, Arriola said. They dug a ditch along the outside of the structure--facing Wilbur Avenue--and apparently excavated too deeply beneath it, weakening it.

The 6-foot wall sank 5 feet into the ditch and toppled partially over, trapping the laborers against the side of the ditch.

“Are you sure they’re under there?” Mark Quakenbush, a neighbor, asked the third worker who had rushed next door to ask for a phone.

“We couldn’t see anyone,” Quakenbush said. “The firefighters dug for about 10 minutes before they ever found them.”

The rescuers used plywood and 2-by-4 timbers to shield the men from more sliding dirt and built wooden covers around their heads to protect them, said Cmdr. John Walts.

The men were conscious and talking as the rescue progressed, Walts said. Most of their bodies were covered by 3 feet to 4 feet of dirt but their faces were left mostly uncovered, allowing them to breathe.

During the ordeal, witnessed by a few dozen onlookers, rescuers used shovels and a dirt vacuum.

One worker was pulled out of the ditch at about 4:20 p.m.

It took another half-hour to free the second victim. “I was just trying to reassure him so he wouldn’t go into shock,” Firefighter Roy Paige said.

The rescue went slowly because of the instability of the wall and the ditch, said Capt. Mike Bowman. “Safety was our primary concern.

The successful rescue was a morale-builder for the firefighters, Arriola said. Rescuers were unable to save the life of a man trapped in a similar collapse in Echo Park in April, he said.

“Something like this, you think the worst,” Arriola said. “It worked out great today.”

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Ditch Rescue

Two workers had to be rescued when a concrete block retaining wall they were building collapsed, trapping them in a ditch 4 feet deep. Urban Search and Rescue firefighters spent about two hours extricating the men, who escaped with minor injuries.

1. Rescuers dug out concrete and dirt around the men and used a hose-like device to vacuum dirt and loose gravel from the ditch.

2. The wall was shored up with metal and wood to keep it from collapsing further.

Source: Times staff