By Mark Barna
The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Firefighters rescued a man Monday afternoon after he became trapped in a storm drain on Hancock Avenue north of Fillmore Street.
Fire Lt. Mike Gower said the man, whose name and age were not immediately available, was not injured, but police planned to question him because his explanation for being in the pipe did not add up.
“He said he was working on a sewer line at a nearby residence and entered the storm drain and got turned around and couldn’t find his way out,” Gower said. “The sewer lines and storm drains do not connect. If they did, Pueblo would be really mad at us.”
Firefighters were called at about 1:15 p.m. after the man went to a grated storm drain opening and shouted for help. A passerby heard him and called rescuers.
Firefighters spoke to the man through the grate, telling him to walk about eight feet to a manhole and climb the ladder, said fire Battalion Chief Steve Dubay. Firefighters removed the manhole lid and the man climbed out on his own and refused treatment.
Fire Lt. Robert Coffey said it’s not uncommon for people to become trapped in storm drains. Most of the time, he said, it’s children who are taking a big risk playing in them because of how fast they can fill up in a rainstorm.
It can be hard to find the way out and the manhole covers are too heavy to lift without a crowbar-like tool and a sledge hammer, Coffey said.
Dubay said being in a storm drain can be dangerous even on what seems like a clear day.
“People don’t realize that the weather could be perfectly clear where they enter the drain,” Dubay said, “but water could come gushing through the drain from a storm on the other side of town.
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