Man rescued from cardboard compactor at Lincoln recycling center Thursday

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Lincoln Fire and Rescue saved a worker who fell and was trapped at a recycling facility around noon Thursday.

Crews were dispatched on a rescue alarm to Green Quest Recycling, 440 J St., at about 12:45 p.m. Thursday for a man in his 40s who had fallen approximately 16 feet into a product chute and was trapped, said LFR spokeswoman MJ Lierman.

When they arrived on scene, LFR members found that two co-workers had crawled inside the cardboard baler machine to try to get the man out.

Those workers had to be helped out of the baler chute before LFR could attempt to rescue the trapped man.

Lierman said the compactor had about three to four bales within the chute, each weighing approximately 1,500 pounds each. When the accident occurred, the bales were in the process of coming out the end of the machine, which has the ability to produce 110,000 pounds of force.

LFR crew members had to cut the wires on the bales to release the cardboard so they could be removed by hand with the assistance of co-workers.

During the extrication process, LFR provided medical treatment to the man trapped inside, who was awake and breathing the whole time.

The entire operation was completed in 40 minutes and the man was transported to Bryan West Trauma Center after he was removed. The extent of his injuries were unknown as of Friday morning.

"He's very lucky," Lierman said.

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Reach the writer at 402-473-7241 or [email protected]. On Twitter @ajohnson6170

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