DEARBORN, Mich. – Dearborn firefighters and the Western Wayne Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team faced numerous challenges on Friday while helping free a man trapped in a partial garage collapse.
The driver’s car was buried under concrete and debris.
The collapse happened at a parking structure on Garrison Place, just off West Outer Drive, around 8:45 p.m.
“There were two layers of the parking structure that collapsed onto the vehicle,” said Kelly Meister, Dearborn’s assistant fire chief of administration and special operations.
Firefighters from Dearborn and members of the Western Wayne Urban Search and Rescue team used saws and other heavy equipment to cut through the rubble as they worked to reach the driver.
Joseph Murray, the fire Chief for Dearborn, said the snow and cold temperatures complicated the effort, but crews still finished the rescue in about two hours, faster than he expected.
What made the difference was coordination.
The chief also noted an unusual aspect of the collapse: the debris formed around the car.
“The driver’s side, there was a cocoon around him, so there was a void area there so rescuers could extract him,” Murray said.
Meister, who is also part of the urban search and rescue team and helped coordinate the response, said that the void allowed rescuers to get close enough to reach the man.
“Once our rescuers were able to break the glass and made physical contact with him, they applied physical pressure to help him from underneath the steering wheel, then they helped him out the window,” Meister said.
Meister said keeping the man calm and stabilizing the remaining structure to prevent further collapse were top priorities.
“That was our first concern, that this was a horrible situation, and honestly, it’s miraculous it wasn’t,” Meister said. “He’s incredibly the luckiest person; he should have bought a lotto ticket that day.”
Local 4 contacted the city about the investigation into the collapse.
The city said they are working on a response.
We also reached out to the garage property management team for comment. We’re waiting to hear back.