It took dozens of firefighters from Stratford and Milford more than a half-hour to extricate Michael Brito, 35, from the mangled wreckage. The giant earthmover fell from the flatbed after striking the Interstate 95 overpass at Ferry Boulevard.

While most of the car was squashed under the hulking payloader, it missed Brito by less than an inch, fire officials said. Brito, who was alone in the car, miraculously suffered relatively minor injuries.

"He was very lucky that he didn't get crushed," Assistant Fire Chief Michael Hostetter said. "The cab of the bulldozer crushed in most of the car around him."

Brito was brought to Bridgeport Hospital for treatment, where spokeswoman Audrey Wise said he was in fair condition. A patient in fair condition is conscious and alert, vital signs are stable and "all indicators are favorable, although he may be experiencing some discomfort," she said.

A local man who witnessed the 12:29 p.m. accident said Brito swerved to the left in an attempt to avoid the toppling machine. The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, ran to the Accord to help Brito while another man used a fire extinguisher to put out flames that ignited in the engine compartment, he said.

"All he kept saying was 'Please, help me, I'm scared,' " said the witness, a former emergency medical technician. "I tried to get him out of the car, but there was nothing I could do. His legs were pinned under the dashboard."

Firefighter Brian Ruskin climbed into the back seat of the Accord to keep Brito calm during the extrication process. He said the possibility of the payloader falling further into the car was in the back of his mind as he tried to comfort Brito and tell him everything would be OK.

"We were talking about his wife and his family," Ruskin said. "I just wanted to take his mind off of what was going on around him. He was in a lot of pain."

Ruskin added that the freak accident was unlike anything that he has seen during his 19 years of service with the town's Fire Department. Firefighters had to cut away the car's mangled door, lift the dashboard and cut away the steering column before they could remove Brito from the wreckage, he said.

"We used everything we had," Ruskin added.

Police Lt. Chris Marino said officials are investigating whether the payloader was properly secured to the flatbed, owned by O&G Industries. He added that investigators with the State Police truck enforcement division said the proper quantity of chains appeared to have been used to hold down the giant earthmover.

Investigators were also trying to determine whether the weight of the vehicle shifted before it struck the overpass and fell onto Brito's car.

O&G spokesman Roy Oneglia said two of the company's safety officers who were at the scene said all the safety bindings were in place and up to code.

The flatbed driver, Frank Bonacasio, of Waterbury, was headed from a recycling facility on Seaview Avenue in Bridgeport to an O&G quarry in Southbury, Oneglia said. Bonacasio was traveling with a state Department of Transportation permit on the route specified by state officials, the O&G spokesman said during a telephone interview shortly after leaving the scene.

"We've moved loads through there many times before and never had a problem," he said. Bonacasio, in his mid-40s, has been employed by O&G many years and is the company's Teamsters International union steward, Oneglia said.

The $400,000 payloader was not damaged in the incident, he said.

"But equipment can be replaced; human lives can't," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the person in that car."

During the emergency extrication operation, Milford police closed the Washington Bridge southbound into Stratford, said Officer Gary Depgen, the department spokesman.

"We're only dealing with the traffic aspects of it, rerouting them away from the bridge, which goes right by" the accident, Depgen said. Northbound lanes of the bridge, from Stratford to Milford remained open, he said.

Southbound motorists were directed back down Bridgeport Avenue and onto Interstate 95 over the Moses Wheeler Bridge, he said. Police said westbound lanes of Ferry Boulevard would remain closed for most of the day while the investigators took measurements and photographs of the vehicles involved.

O&G Industries has had several U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspections over the past five years, but only one resulted in a violation.

The company was cited but not fined in January 2005 for a violation that was not "willful or serious" at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, the administration's Web site shows. OSHA inspectors also investigated an accident involving O&G in June 2004 on Frontage Road in East Haven, but found no violations. That project was part of the widening of Interstate 95 through the New Haven area.

The federal safety administration is not investigating Thursday's incident itself, spokesman John Chavez said. "That is a traffic accident and falls into the jurisdiction of local and state police.

"But we have sent a compliance officer to observe the efforts to right the truck. That involves additional equipment and is something we would monitor," the OSHA spokesman said.

Mayor James Miron praised firefighters for helping to avert a major catastrophe.

"It's a testament to the firefighters and the training they receive," he said.