Rescuers vacuum sand to free man trapped in Naperville silo

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Updated: February 7, 2012 1:56AM

A supervisor for a Naperville concrete company was hospitalized late Monday night after being partially buried in a sand silo.

William Ortiz, 37, was in good condition at Edward Hospital in Naperville after being extricated from sand around 3 p.m. after about a four-hour rescue, fire officials said.

Rescuers were called about 11:23 a.m. to Dukane Precast in the Burlington Northern Industrial Park, officials said. Fire Capt. Dave Ferreri said firefighters found Ortiz buried up to his waist in “a hopper full of sand.” Another official said rescuers worked to keep him from sinking deeper.

The rescue operation involved getting Ortiz into a harness and then using vacuum-type machinery from Naperville’s Public Utilities Department to remove some of the sand surrounding him, so that he could be freed without further injury. At least two truckloads of sand were taken out of the bin during that effort.

Dukane Precast manufactures prefabricated cement slabs for buildings under construction.

“We don’t know how he got in there,” Ferreri said, adding it was his understanding workers were never supposed to be inside any of the hoppers.

Dukane Precast spokeswoman Lissa Christman on Monday said the supervisor had been seen on the catwalk shortly before becoming immersed in the company’s “dust bin.”

The silo is about 30 feet tall and was half-full of sand at the time of the incident, she said.

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