BETHEL – A Wilton man’s only contact with the outside world was a cell phone after he and the bucket loader he was operating Wednesday morning were buried in a Bethel gravel pit collapse.
Richard A. Tibbetts, 53, escaped serious injury, suffering cuts and bruises after being dug out by his employees and several rescuers from four towns, said Bethel Police Chief Alan Carr on Wednesday morning.
“He’s a lucky man,” Carr said after the dramatic rescue.
Calls to Tibbetts, who was treated at the scene then resumed work, were not returned.
Tibbetts “talked to us through the ordeal,” said Tri-Town Rescue paramedic Jason Ross.
“He was pinned for more than an hour. He never lost consciousness, but all he wanted to do was get out,” said Norm St. Pierre, an emergency rescue technician with Tri-Town Rescue, and the incident’s emergency medical services commander.
At about 8:37 a.m., Tibbetts, owner of R.A. Tibbetts Logging and Trucking, was operating the company’s new front-end loader in a large sand and gravel pit off Route 232, about two miles north of Gore Road.
Bethel Town Clerk Christen Mason said she believes the former Thornton and Wheeler gravel pit is owned by Ski Tracks Inc.
Tibbetts was pulling down sand when a mountain of gravel and sand suddenly collapsed on him, Carr said.
“When I got there right after it happened, all I could see was the very back end of the loader. The machine was totally covered,” said Bethel fire Capt. Frank Buiniskas, the overall scene commander.
Initial responders said they got frustrated quickly, because the sand was so unstable. Any attempts to dig out Tibbetts brought more down over him.
St. Pierre said Rumford and Paris fire departments were immediately called, because both have airbags used in extrication work. However, the sand was too unstable to use them.
“It was very frustrating. We used spades, our hands, cups and anything we could use to scoop it out with,” said St. Pierre, his dark blue shirt still flecked with grains of sand.
“We didn’t want to get too aggressive with shovels, but get the job done as safely as we could,” he added.
They ultimately used about four ambulance backboards and some plywood to block sand from spilling into the loader’s bowed-in windshield to dig Tibbetts out, Ross said.
“The front windshield is safety glass, so it didn’t shatter, but it bowed in and came down on his hand,” he said. Side windows, however, did break, cutting the trapped man.
To get Tibbetts out, Ross said Paris firefighters also had to use bolt cutters to cut the loader’s steering wheel off the trapped man’s lap.
Other rescuers included Bethel and West Paris firefighters, state and county and Bethel police, and two game wardens.
“He is very, very lucky. Usually, these things wind up in tragedy, but we had an awesome bunch of guys. They did a super job!” Buiniskas said.
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