DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — A person was rescued after being trapped in a parking structure that partially collapsed in Dearborn Friday night, officials say.
The collapse happened around 8:45 p.m. near W. Outer Drive and Garrison Place.
Watch our report from the scene after the rescue:
A man inside a vehicle became trapped underneath concrete when the parking garage partially collapsed, Deaborn Fire Chief Joseph Murray told reporters at the scene.
First responders at the scene said the man was able to communicate with them during the rescue effort and he told them he did not have any serious injuries. He was taken to the hospital for a medical evaluation.
Murray says crews worked to get the structure sturdy enough to free the victim. The fire and police departments worked with building officials.
The fire chief said there was "a significant amount of concrete, big, thousands and thousands of pounds of concrete, which have collapsed onto his vehicle."
"These type of events can be very complex, a lot of moving parts, especially when you have these collapses and you have a lot of large concrete I-beams that you're afraid that if they shift around that they could cause potentially more damage or hurt firefighters or hurt the victims. So a lot of times, it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort to do it," Murray said.
Teams specialized in collapse rescues also responded to the scene and the victim was rescued much sooner than expected.
"Fortunately, when we had our experts — our firefighters are well trained in this, we practice on this all the time — with the help of our friends at Western Wayne Mutual Aid, we were actually able to get it shored up a lot quicker than we expected and able to make sure that none of the other pieces would be off-center or move on the victim at that time," Murray said.
A frigid night in Michigan created challenges during the rescue.
"So they were able to feel secure enough with the structure that they were able to access the patient a lot quicker than we initially thought, which is a great thing because it's very cold out today. We were worried about that," the chief said.
Officials asked people to avoid the area as they work to investigate and clear the scene.
The cause of the collapse is unknown at this time.
