'Our heart goes out to them': Fire chief reflects on deadly trench collapse

NORTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Channel 11's Cara Sapida sat down with the North Strabane fire chief to talk about a freak accident that they responded to on Friday.

Chief Mark Grimm told Cara Sapida his team trains for trench collapses and they knew they were up against the clock working to save a man's life.

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Richard St. John, 49, of Ohio, and his friends were digging a 10-foot trench Friday. The group was looking to put a sewer line in at a home on Brehm Road when it collapsed on him.

Grimm said when first responders arrived, his friends were trying to manually remove the dirt.

Richard "Ricky" St. John, according to his obituary, was a father, medic and Marine Corps veteran.

"We found out towards the end of the day he was a volunteer fireman in Ohio. Makes it tougher for us because he’s doing the same job we are doing," Grimm said.

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