A man became trapped inside a garbage truck in San Francisco and had to be rescued early on Wednesday, the authorities said.
The man, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital, the San Francisco Fire Department said in a statement. The authorities did not say exactly how the man ended up in the truck, and the extent of his injuries was not clear.
The Fire Department received a call at 4:11 a.m. Wednesday reporting that a person was stuck inside a garbage truck operated by Recology, a private waste and recycling company, said Capt. Mariano Elias, a public information officer for the department.
According to Captain Elias, the driver had just picked up the first load of trash on his route at a commercial address, emptied the dumpster into the truck and compacted the trash once. The driver continued to his next pickup and was about to empty another dumpster into the truck when a passerby flagged him down and reported having heard someone yelling from inside the truck.
“He turned his truck off to listen, and they did hear someone yelling and screaming for help,” Captain Elias said.
The man was unable to get himself out of the garbage truck. Firefighters arrived and determined that the best plan to dislodge him was to dig out the garbage around him. That seemed safer than dumping the entire load, which could add to any injuries he had already sustained.
About 25 firefighters worked in teams to remove the trash. Once enough garbage had been cleared to free the man’s arm, paramedics were sent into the truck to administer an intravenous drip. The goal was to protect him from crush syndrome, a life-threatening condition that can cause tissue injury, organ dysfunction and metabolic abnormalities, Captain Elias said.
Firefighters talked to the man throughout the process and kept him informed. Captain Elias said he heard some screaming and yelling from the man as if he was in pain.
It took about two hours to clear the rubbish and free the man from the truck, Captain Elias said. The man was then taken to a hospital.
One firefighter was injured when a sharp object cut through one of his gloves. He needed stitches and a tetanus shot, Captain Elias said.
Captain Elias said it was not uncommon for people to go into dumpsters searching for food or other items only for the dumpster to be emptied into a garbage truck. He described it as a “high risk, low frequency” call that fire departments across the country encounter. In addition to the danger to the person in the truck, responders also face hazards when dealing with heavy machinery like the truck’s hydraulic compactor.
Recology did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2025, a man died in New York after the dumpster he and another man were sleeping in was emptied into a garbage truck. In 2024, a woman in New Hampshire was critically injured after she fell into a large trash bin that was then dumped into a garbage truck. Also in 2024, a homeless man in Jackson, Miss., survived a similar episode.
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