On Tuesday, March 1, 2016, tragedy struck our community when a trench occupied by three workers collapsed in the 700 block of Main Street. One person was rescued but two others could not be saved. A prolonged recovery effort was required to safely remove the victims from the trench. As we have seen time and again, the community came together to successfully respond to this tragedy with compassion and effectiveness.
The City of Hays 911 Communication Department did an outstanding job is alerting the public safety responders and providing support communications. The City of Hays Police Department would like to thank the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Highway Patrol who quickly responded in support. As always we appreciate the selfless service of Dr. Lyle Noordhoek, our coroner, for his thorough and efficient work. The City of Hays Fire Department would like to thank our partners in the Ellis County Rural Fire Department Company 5 for coming to our aide for this nine hour operation.
The staff of the City of Hays Public Works, Parks and Utilities departments responded with special equipment and additional staff prepared to help with both the rescue and recovery effort. Thank you for this unselfish support.
Others who provided important support include the Ellis County Emergency Manager and the Emergency Managers from Trego, Rooks and Russell counties. The Trego County portable light tower was essential as the work continued after sundown. Fr. Fred Gatschet and Fr Jarett Konrade provided invaluable service. Heartland Building Center responded quickly to our call for additional lumber to help shore-up the trench. The local chapter of the American Red Cross and the Ellis County Emergency Responders Rehab Unit provided encouragement and food and beverages donated by the Dillon’s store and the Arby’s and MacDonald’s restaurants.
Our special appreciation goes out to the staff at the Hays division of APAC. They provided expert assistance and advice and the use of their steel trench box that saved many hours of work during the recovery efforts.
We know that others quietly assisted in various ways unknown to us or that we inadvertently missed in drafting this letter. We thank them for these efforts.
We would especially like to thank the members of the City of Hays Police and Fire departments, the Ellis County EMS paramedics and the members of the Ellis, Rural and Victoria fire departments who help staff the Technical Rescue Team. Their training, professionalism and teamwork in doing the rescue and recovery work was outstanding.
Finally, we appreciate the patience and cooperation of the families who waited while the recovery operation progressed. Our condolences go out to the Jacobs and Pfannenstiel families in their loss.
Don Scheibler
Police Chief
Gary Brown
Fire Chief