FORT MYERS, Fla. — A little boy is going to be okay, but he has a scary story to tell.
The South Trail Fire Department says they got the call about a child being trapped in a sewer pipe Monday night in a construction area on 7th avenue and Oak Drive in Fort Myers and they arrive 3 minutes later to help rescue him.
When they arrived the boy's leg was stuck in one of these pipes stacked up for a construction project. “So the child became stuck as a result of his position inside the pipe so his knee got stuck on the top portion of the pipe while his foot became wedged on the bottom so once that foot got stuck in place his new became was also and he couldn’t free his leg on his own,” said South Trail Fire Department Betallion Chief Matt Seneca.
Firefighters say they tried to use water, lubricant and even took the child’s shoe off to see if they could free him.
Nothing was working to get him out. They were also concerned about the pipes tipping and rolling.
Multiple agencies came to aid including, South Trail Fire Department, Iona McGregor Fire Department and Lehigh Acres Fire Department.
“We were actually chipping away at the concrete almost like a miniature jackhammer,” Betallion Chief Matt Seneca.
The tool helped to cut away at the concrete to help save the boy… firefighters gave the preteen safety goggles, earmuffs and a blanket to protect from the materials during the entire process…
Many of the first responders are prepared for this type of incident because they go through extra training to learn more about all kinds of rescues…
“There’s different types of technical rescue incidents that we encounter, there’s confined space incidents, there’s high angle type incidents, there’s different kinds of trench rescue that were involved with and this incident here this was a culvert pipe that was above ground where the victim had gotten trapped inside of so this would be considered more of a confined space type rescue situation but there was also a demolition portion to it also so it’s kind of like a structural collapse process to it also,” Betallion Chief Seneca.
Something these first responders need to be prepared for at all times.
“Some of the members who responded to this incident were also members who responded to surfside incident over in Miami so they respond to so many similarities in the demolition process that was involved in this so special thanks to those guys,” says Seneca.
And after a very careful 41 minutes, the boy was free with just a scrape on his knee... “A job well done on everyone’s part that was involved it’s always encouraging seeing other districts come together to work as a team,” Seneca.
South Trail Fire Department says the boy and his family are not speaking about this incident any further.
Officials are pointing out tonight to make sure you remind your kids to not play in areas like this one here so they can stay out of danger and avoid another situation like the one that happened Monday night.
