Emergency crews were called to 7702 North County Road 2000 just after 2:30 p.m. for the report of an industrial accident. A man’s head was trapped in an excavator.
New Deal volunteer firefighters and Lubbock Fire Rescue helped with a rescue operation on C & D Waste property.
LFR said the man was trapped between the boom of the excavator and the cab.
“The boom of the excavator would be the long arm that they use that they use to dig or it can be a number of different things,” LFR Battalion Chief Nick Wilson said. “They use the cab for where the operator would sit. We don’t know why he was in the position he was in but again his head was somehow trapped between the book and the cab.”
Firefighters removed him from the excavator and he was taken by EMS to University Medical Center.
“The heavy rescue team utilized a plasma cutter or plasma torch,” Wilson said. “It took roughly about eight minutes on scene to extricate him and get him in the care of EMS. Then EMS transported him to the hospital.”
University Medical Center said the man is in critical condition.
Fellow employees at C & D Waste told KLBK and EverythingLubbock.com that he has serious injuries and got out of surgery at about 5 p.m., with stitches across his face.
“Calls like this with entrapment or heavy machinery while they aren’t common they’re not unusual as well,” Wilson said. “That’s one of the things the heavy rescue team specializes in, that’s why we call them up.”
