Bulldozer driver injured when machine slips, flips

A bulldozer at an industrial complex in Waukegan rolled into a trench before dawn on Monday, forcing Waukegan firefighters into a rainy and slippery rescue operation. The crash injured the driver, but firefighters expect him to recover.

"It was all happening during the rain, so it created quite a problem to work through," said fire marshal Steven Lenzi.

Lenzi said the crash occurred just after 6 a.m. at National Gypsum's Waukegan Harbor facility, 515 E. Sea Horse Drive.

National Gypsum takes in boatloads of the rocklike mineral from lands around Lake Superior and converts them into drywall, Lenzi said; they pile their gypsum loads into mounds that reach 40 feet tall in some areas, and have multiple tiers on which bulldozers drive to push stock into the facility. In the dark and rainy Monday morning, on a thawing tier of once-frozen gypsum about 10 feet above the ground, one bulldozer slipped off its edge, rolled over onto its side and tumbled to the surface, he said.

The crash did not eject the driver from the machine's cab, but the cab had only one door - which was pinned to the ground, Lenzi said. He said rescuers needed to bring in the "Jaws of Life" and other heavy extrication equipment, which required making sure that the piles of minerals on both sides of the crash scene were steady.

"Some of the gypsum was still frozen together in chunks," Lenzi said. "They just weren't sure about the stability in the very beginning. We wanted to make sure nobody else gets hurt in the process."

But firefighters were able to cut through the cab and pull the man out, Lenzi said; an ambulance took the driver to Vista East Medical Center with "fairly severe" injuries. Lenzi said he had not heard an update of the man's condition Monday night.