By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- San Francisco firefighters rescued a man trapped inside a Recology garbage truck early Wednesday morning after a passerby heard yelling coming from the truck.
- The truck’s driver pulled over on the 100 block of Mason Street near the Powell BART stop; crews responded at 4:11 a.m.
- Firefighters emptied the truck and searched through the debris using long poles before locating and freeing the man before 7 a.m.
- The man was responsive and talking throughout the rescue; he was transported to a local trauma center for treatment.
- Fire officials said the extent of his injuries and how he came to be inside the truck were not immediately known.
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco firefighters spent nearly three hours emptying and searching a garbage truck early Wednesday to rescue a man found trapped inside, according to fire officials.
The driver of the Recology truck had just begun their route when a passerby flagged them down, reporting sounds of someone yelling from the truck’s garbage compartment, according to San Francisco Fire Department Capt. Mariano Elias. The driver pulled over on the 100 block of Mason Street near the Powell BART station, and firefighters responded at 4:11 a.m. to search for the person.
Crews piled trash bags from the truck onto the street and used long poles to search through the debris. The man was located and rescued before 7 a.m., then transported from the back of the truck on a tarp onto a waiting stretcher.
Elias said the man was responsive and talking throughout the rescue but did not have information on the extent of his injuries or his current condition. He said it was not clear how the man came to be inside the truck. “I don’t know why he was in there, but it’s very common for people to be found going through trash,” Elias said.