Elmwood Park man dead after being pulled from Buffalo Grove trench

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. (December 13, 2022) – An Elmwood Park man has died after being pulled from a trench Monday evening in Buffalo Grove.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Buffalo Grove Fire Department responded around 5:30 p.m. Monday to a report of someone trapped in a hole in the front yard of a home in the 1000 block of Aspen Drive. When crews arrived on the scene, they found the man buried under 8 of 9 feet of dirt and not breathing.

A total of 17 fire departments collectively provided 62 responders to assist in the rescue. They freed him from the hole around 6:35 p.m. He was transported to Northwest Community Hospital, where he later died.

The man has been identified as 27-year-old Nikodem Zaremba of Elmwood Park.

Fire officials say the village had issued a permit for sewer repair for the property. Rooter Solutions, which Zaremba reportedly co-owned with a relative, was hired to do the repair work.

OSHA is actively investigating the cause of the incident, but preliminary indications suggest the hole might have lacked adequate cave-in protections.

OSHA’s requirements for cave-in protection vary, depending on the depth of the trench, a representative told the Daily Herald. Such precautions could include a steel box that would prevent dirt from falling back into the hole, but that was not present at the site.