SUNSITES, Ariz. (KGUN) — Sulfur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative held its annual May Day drill in Sunsites, simulating what would happen if a worker became trapped in a trench. The drill brought together SSVEC employees and local first responders to practice communication, assess response times, and identify areas for improvement.
The exercise took place on a leveled plot of ground where a trench had been dug specifically for the simulation.
Matthew Riesgo, SSVEC's safety manager, said the drill was designed to highlight how long underground utility repairs can take.
"We have a lot of underground utilities within our service territory, and sometimes they take a long time to respond and fix those, so we're really just trying to emphasize how long sometimes repairs do take."
Part of that repair time includes how long it takes first responders to reach the scene. Some of SSVEC's service areas are in rural parts of Cochise County, which adds to response times.
Sunsites-Pearce Fire Chief Levi Garner is one of only about 5 first responders in Cochise County certified in trench rescue. He said the drill reinforced to utility crews that there are steps they can take before help arrives.
"Understanding that time plays a factor in a response such as this, reinforces to the utility crews, 'Hey, there's steps that you can do before we get there, and things that you should and shouldn't do.'"
Garner said it was important for SSVEC staff to understand that staying back and calling for help often leads to better outcomes than rushing in.
"People are pre-programmed to help their neighbor, right? People want to rush in, and we really covered slowing down, assessing the situation, understanding that calling 911 is the best option. Sometimes jumping in to help, all that's going to do is create more people that need rescued."
Sierra Vista Fire Captain Shawn Mott said the remote nature of SSVEC's service territory means response times can stretch significantly in a real emergency.
"It's a long ways from one point to the next within our service territory, and so if an emergency happens, we may be waiting for a helicopter that could be a half hour or longer away, or in this scenario, it could be an hour or six hours before we get the right people out to do a trench excavation."
For SSVEC, the drill was also an opportunity to improve internal communication and stay calm under pressure. SSVEC CEO Jason Bowling said the process of finding and fixing problems is exactly the point.
"Every time we do one of these, we find bugs we need to work out and ways we can improve our process, and that's what this is really all about."
The Sunsites-Pearce Fire District used grant funding to receive trench rescue training and equipment, making it one of the few agencies in Cochise County equipped to assist in trench rescue drills and emergencies.
"We have grant funding that's paid for personnel to be trained in trench rescue. We have grant money that's paid for trench rescue equipment, and having that available to us really helps make our personnel and anybody we're responding to more safe."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
- Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
