Prince George's firefighters and paramedics rescued a worker trapped in a large piece of machinery Tuesday morning.
Crews were sent to the 5400 block of Van Dusen Road in Laurel around 11 a.m. to find the worker at a mulch plant inside of a machine used to inject colored dye into the mulch, according to a department press release.
Both of the worker's legs were trapped within the heavy machinery and access to the victim was only possible by using ground ladders.
Paramedics feared surgical intervention would be required to free the critically injured worker and requested a "Go Team" made up of medical professionals to respond to the scene.
The department's Technical Rescue Team and Hazmat team also responded.
A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist from the University of Maryland Shock Trauma was the first member of the Go Team to arrive and worked with other responders to devise the best course of treatment for the victim.
Parts of the machine were disabled and removed, but the victim was still wedged inside.
Due to his severe pain, he was sedated and intubated. This allowed rescuers to make enough room to move his legs out of the machinery without surgical intervention.
The worker was successfully extricated from the machine around 12:30 p.m.
Once out, the victim was placed in a Stokes basket suspended from the bucket of the Tower Ladder from Laurel Station 810 and control was maintained by a rope and pulley system.
Paramedics treated the worker once he was on the ground and was then transported to a trauma center.
While he suffered critical injuries to both legs, officials said his injuries are not considered to be life threatening.
