On Sunday, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District firefighters responded to the 3100 block of Buchanan in the City of Antioch for a report of a person stuck in a pipe.
The confined space rescue began at 5:36 pm and by 7:13 pm they began to make entry into the pipe to free the person (photo by CONFIRE)
According to preliminary information, a male was trapped in a storm drain approximately 15 feet underground. The male was responsive and communicating with rescue personnel.
Contra Costa County Fire said 50 rescuers from Con Fire, East County Fire, Antioch Police Department and City of Antioch are attempting to gain access to the victim from two different directions.
No other information was made available and it was unknown how the person got into the storm drain or how long he had been inside. As of 7:55 pm, the scene was still very active.
8:54 pm Update:
Contra Costa County Fire Protection District reported the victim now out of the hole. This was a 3.5 hour, 50 person operation. The male was in his 30’s and is being taken to hospital for evaluation.
11:00 pm Update
According to CONFIRE, the male had crawled into the storm drain system, weren’t able to determine exactly where his entry point might have been. Ended up in a 16 in pipe up against a pretty significant debris field, which took before rescuing firefighters we sent underground the better part of an hour to clear to get to him.
CONFIRE says the man told them he had been underground for 2 days. Was not injured but nonetheless transported him to hospital for further evaluation.
