Jan. 12, 2023 It was a delicate operation as crews had to minimize vibrations to prevent another collapse.
By Rosemary Sobol Source Chicago Tribune (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A worker who was trapped for 45 minutes in the debris of a collapsed building on the South Side died Thursday afternoon, officials said.
The man, whose name and age were not immediately available, was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was in “traumatic arrest.” He was pronounced dead at 12:08 p.m., the Cook County medial examiner’s office said.
Rescue squads took turns hauling rubble away to find the trapped man, and tried to minimize vibrations to the vacant building, in the 700 block of East Oakwood Boulevard, to prevent a “second collapse” and anyone else, including firefighters, from being injured, Deputy District Chief Shun T. Haynes said at the scene.
The victim was working with two other people, who were not hurt, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
“We asked where was the last place they saw him and they told us an area on the side of the building, and that’s where we started digging,” Langford said.
He was buried under “several feet” of debris, masonry, dirt and bricks, Langford said, adding it took squads 45 minutes from the time they got there to get the man out.
The worker was originally taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in “grave” condition, according to Haynes, who did not know why the building had fallen at about 11 a.m.
The Chicago Fire Department sent multiple ambulances and rigs to the scene of the collapse of the brick building that was being rehabbed, said spokesman Larry Merritt. No one else was injured, according to Merritt.
Only one wall collapsed, while the others — a common wall, the back wall and the front wall of the brick three-story building, which was constructed in the late 1800s — remained intact Thursday night, Langford said. The city Department of Buildings will have to decide if the rest will be torn down.