EDISON — Firefighters saved a 28-year-old laborer at a Meadow Road wood composting facility who toppled down an embankment and was buried up to his neck in a smoldering pile of mulch for about a half hour during a fire, authorities said.
More than 20 firefighters from Edison and Metuchen companies were already on scene at Generated Materials fighting a late night fire on May 4. The firefighters grabbed shovels to dig out the employee, Yamil Mendez-Rodriguez, from the smoldering mulch pile, officials said.
Mendez-Rodriguez, a Dunellen resident, was not burned, but complained of knee pain after being freed, police said. He was transported to, treated and later released from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
“It was a dangerous situation for firefighters, too,” said Fire Capt. Andy Toth, who also serves as the Office of Emergency Management coordinator. “The mulch piles around [the firefighters] were at least 20 feet above their heads and could have collapsed during this rescue. They worked quickly, safely and did a great job.”
Firefighters were dispatched to the wood recycling facility at 11:10 p.m. on May 4 after reports that mulch piles — estimated at 50-to-70 feet high in places — were smoldering or showing flames. Two employees used tractors to shift the mulch piles, helping as firefighters extinguish a series of small fires, officials said.
At 2:20 a.m. on May 5, Mendez-Rodriguez, who was working on foot, tumbled down a mulch embankment, according to police Officer Brian Hudick’s incident report. His cries for help alerted nearby firefighters and co-workers, who rushed to his aid. It took about 30 minutes to free him, Toth said.