KERSEY — The man trapped beneath trash since Wednesday at the Greentree Landfill in Kersey has been found dead.
William L. Pierce, 49, of DuBois, who had been operating a wheeled trash compactor at the time of the collapse Wednesday afternoon, was finally pulled from the machine at 1:20 p.m. Friday and pronounced dead at 1:25 p.m. by Elk County Coroner Michelle Muccio, Ridgway-based state police reported.
According to the Associated Press, Muccio stated Pierce probably died of blunt force trauma to his dead, but she expects the official cause of death to be determined at the autopsy scheduled for today.
At 10 a.m. Friday, “search crews utilizing heavy earthmoving equipment located Pierce’s machine lying on its right side under approximately 40 feet of shifted soil and refuse,” police stated. “Rescue crews using hand tools worked to unearth the operator’s cab of the trash compactor and discovered Pierce was deceased inside.”
“It’s heartbreaking for us to report. Yes, the employee was found and recovered, but he was not alive. Our thoughts are all with his family and our employees,” said Mark Nighbor, vice president of marketing and communications for Advanced Disposal Inc., Greentree landfill owner.
Grief counselors are being provided for the family and employees, he said. He asked that the family’s privacy be respected.
Rescuers had been working fearlessly since the call came in about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday that trash had shifted at the landfill site where five people were working. Four individuals managed to get out of the heap, but the last, who was operating a compactor at the site, was buried while inside the machine.
Nighbor noted, “Our employees worked tirelessly since Wednesday, and used every available resource, in an effort to locate our missing team member.”
A number of agencies and groups worked together in the search, including Advanced Disposal Inc., state police, Elk County fire departments and ambulance services, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, Elk County Emergency Management Agency, Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue, Elkland Search and Rescue, Pennsylvvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, The Salvation Army, local businesses and more state and federal agencies.
“Unstable terrain and inclement weather hampered the continuous endeavors of rescue workers,” police explained.
PEMA Director Rick Flinn said one of the tasks the agency had in the operation was to request two Pennsylvania State Police helicopters be sent in to try and detect heat, from the machine or man, at the site. The helicopters arrived from Harrisburg Wednesday night, but failed to locate the compactor.
On Friday, ground-penetrating equipment had been brought in and an object was detected that was about the size of the compactor, Nighbor said. The limitation of the equipment was they couldn’t tell how far down the compactor was, but said they would dig until they reached the object. They had to balance the digging with the need to ensure the environment was safe for the rescuers, he explained.
Flinn said he received a report at 12:57 p.m. that said the coroner and state police had been called in at 12:04 p.m. Friday.
PEMA was initially contacted by the Elk County Emergency Management Agency at 3 p.m. Wednesday. He said it was reported several pieces of equipment slid and five to six people were trapped, one was rescued and the others managed to get out. He said one person was still missing at that time.
“This is a unique situation. From PEMA’s perspective, I’m not aware of any other individuals that have been trapped in a landfill,” Flinn said.
PEMA plays a support role in this situation to the county Emergency Management Agency, he said. He said the Northwest Task Force and the Urban Search and Rescue team were called to respond by PEMA. PEMA also contacted the Department of Environmental Protection to notify the department of the situation. Because of the unique situation of it being at a landfill, the air quality had to be monitored for hydrogen sulfide, Flinn said, which would be dangerous to the rescue workers. He said that chemical can be released from a landfill when it is disturbed.
Often PEMA will also coordinate bringing in heavy equipment, but in this case that had already been taken care of by the landfill and they didn’t need that assistance, he said.
Friday, another PEMA worker had been sent to the site, but it is unlikely he would be needed now that the person has been found, Flinn said.
While the search was taking place the landfill was shut down and trash was directed to other landfills such as the McKean Landfill in Mount Jewett. Don Shonts, the operations manager, said the area landfills were doing their part to help by taking in additional waste. The McKean Landfill was accepting waste from Elk, Jefferson and Crawford counties in addition to its regular trash. He said the situation at Greentree didn’t require additional safety procedures to be put in place at the McKean facility because there weren’t any other precautions it could put in place.
Kersey resident, and former state representative, Dan Surra, said he had never heard of another situation like this.
Everyone in the situation was trying to maintain hope that the man would be found alive, he said. Although Surra was a strong opponent of the landfill before it was built, he didn’t fault the company for this situation.
“If this is because of negligence or cut corners it’s a tragedy, but I’d really be surprised. It’s probably just a tragic accident,” he said.
Surra said he heard sirens around noon on Friday and was hoping that was a good sign. Everyone in the community and the entire area was very concerned for those facing this situation, he said.
The investigation is ongoing.
In the meantime, Nighbor stated, “We will continue to work with all authorities and regulatory agencies, including the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, to investigate how this unfortunate incident occurred.”
Era reporter Ruth Bogdan contributed to this report.
