ALLENTOWN, Pa. – After leading the team that saved a worker buried at a construction site, Jonathan Hammel, the Allentown Technical Rescue Team commander, slept for two hours.
- There were two victims in an Allentown construction incident on Jan. 11. One of them was trapped for over eight hours
- The rescue team took a relatively slow approach to save the victims to prevent possible cave-in
- Local residents at around 10 p.m. Wednesday gathered around to show their support for the man who had been underground
And then he started another 24-hour shift at the Mack Southside Fire Station.
“Our guys are tired,” Hammel said. “Between the city of Scranton, Allentown EMS, everybody — Allentown Fire Department — they're all tired. A lot of us are back at work today. And it's just part of it. You know, it's what we sign on for.”
Officials said two men were trapped when a trench they were digging as part of work on a sewer line collapsed in a backyard near 15th and Gordon streets. One of the men was rescued almost instantly when firefighters lowered a ladder into the hole. The other, about whom the only information released publicly is that he is 27 years old, was stuck for more than eight hours, initially buried up to his chin.
Officials have not released the identities of either of the victims.
Both men were taken to the hospital for observation, and there is no update on their condition other than that they are safe and without serious injuries.
Though Hammel appeared tired Thursday, he said that personally, he’s doing “good,” after the successful mission.
“This is what we train for,” he said. “This is what we do. It doesn’t happen very often, so it doesn’t hit the spotlight like this incident is getting. But across the nation, you know, there’s teams that are ready to do this at a moment’s notice, and this is what it comes to."
“This is why guys spend the time away from their families and at training putting in those long hours.”
When asked how many hours his training took, Hammel replied: “It's taken me about 20 years.”
“This is what we do. It doesn’t happen very often, so it doesn’t hit the spotlight like this incident is getting. But across the nation, you know, there’s teams that are ready to do this at a moment’s notice, and this is what it comes to."Jonathan Hamel, the Allentown Technical Rescue Team Commander
Inside the rescue operation
Hammel said Wednesday night’s operation was not something his team had ever done in real life, only in training.
Hammel said that though the operation took eight hours and was by all accounts a life-or-death situation, from his perspective, the actual methods were not that advanced.
“It’s not that technical, at least in my mind,” Hammel said. “We use large boards, small boards, pieces of lumber wedge sets, to basically ‘build out,’ in a sense, a wall to hold back dirt on the sides of the trench itself.”
At the top of the trench were doctors, family members — wife, parents and a pastor.
Inside the trench: medics and, of course, the 27-year-old victim.
Hammel said the biggest challenge was making sure the walls didn’t cave in again.
To prevent that, Hammel said his team took a slow and steady approach. He said multiple people from different rescue teams were looking at the scene from different angles, and “with different eyeballs,” as he put it – all in order to prevent any possible threat of another cave-in.
“That’s why it took eight hours,” he said. “Because we went slow, and we went methodical, because we didn't want that kind of thing to happen, and thankfully, it didn’t.”
‘He’s out!’
As the night went on, at about 10 p.m., people in the neighborhood gathered around to express their support for the man on the ground.
One offered to buy him tea from Wawa (a paramedic said he already had some, but thanked the man) and another offered his prayers. (The victim’s pastor was already there.)
A man leaned his bicycle up against a fence to get a better view by standing on it. Camera crews set up tripods on front porches in hopes of getting a better shot, and TV news helicopters flew above the scene, refueling at Lehigh Valley International Airport every so often.
When the final pull was getting closer, first responders tried to clear the roads of bystanders, pulled down some police tape, and yelled urgently for people to clear the way for the ambulance.
Finally, a member of the rescue team, carrying shovels and pick-axes, crossed the police tape, shouting, “He’s out!”
That was met with cheers and applause from the crowd of about 30 people, most standing on others’ front lawns and stoops in order to stay out of the way.
On Thursday, after Hammel finished speaking with the media at the fire station, on two hours of sleep, one of his colleagues came up to him. They started joking around and play-fighting and the colleague put Hammel in a brief headlock, as a pro wrestler would.
Hammel laughed and started talking about what they were planning for dinner at the firehouse and poking fun at each other’s sleep disorders.
“Yeah you’d have to be a little ‘off’ to work here,” he said, patting his colleague on the back.
