Gettysburg battlefield visitor cheats death after giant tree traps him in a portable toilet


Gettysburg battlefield visitor cheats death after giant tree crashes down on portable toilet trapping him inside

  • He was rescued by the Barlow Volunteer Fire Department around 4pm on Friday
  • Firefighters treated it as a car entrapment, cutting away the tree and porta-potty
  • The man was taken to Gettysburg Hospital with non-life threatening injuries 

A lucky Gettysburg battlefield visitor has cheated death after a giant tree crashed down on the portable toilet he was using, trapping him inside. 

The poor occupant was rescued from the toilet at the Gettysburg National Military Park by Barlow Volunteer Fire Department just before 4pm on Friday. 

The crew treated the man’s predicament as a car entrapment and managed to cut him free from the porta-potty.  

Assistant Chief Joe Robinson said the rescue team had cut away parts of the fallen tree and then open the portable toilet with a Sawzall to free the man.  

A lucky Gettysburg battlefield visitor has cheated death after a giant tree crashed down on the portable toilet he was using, trapping him inside

A lucky Gettysburg battlefield visitor has cheated death after a giant tree crashed down on the portable toilet he was using, trapping him inside

The poor occupant was rescued from the toilet at the Gettysburg National Military Park by Barlow Volunteer Fire Department just before 4pm on Friday

The rescue team cut away parts of the fallen tree and then open the portable toilet with a Sawzall to free the man

The poor occupant was rescued from the toilet at the Gettysburg National Military Park by Barlow Volunteer Fire Department just before 4pm on Friday. The rescue team cut away parts of the fallen tree and then open the portable toilet with a Sawzall to free the man

Robinson told a local paper he initially thought the call was about someone trapped in their car or a UTV.

Instead, when the crew arrived at the scene they were directed by park rangers to the portable toilet. 

He told the York Daily Record the man ‘was very lucky,’ to get out alive. ‘It was a large tree, and it just missed striking him. It could have been very serious.’ 

The man was taken to Gettysburg Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.   

Robinson, who has worked as a firefighter for 30 years, told the paper he had never seen anything like it. 

He added it had been a busy day for the team because high winds in area had felled several trees and wires. There had also been reports of fires, he said. 

Robinson told a local paper he initially thought the call was about someone trapped in their car or a UTV, but the rescue team were directed to a portable toilet instead

Robinson told a local paper he initially thought the call was about someone trapped in their car or a UTV, but the rescue team were directed to a portable toilet instead

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