By FireRescue1 Staff
PHILADELPHIA — Firefighters pulled a man out of an eight-foot sinkhole after he fell in while trying to secure it.
NBC Philadelphia reported that Eugene Clarke was trying to secure the sinkhole on the street after neighbors reported it to the Philadelphia Water Department, who determined the leak was connected to a private home.
“When I asked them, I said, ‘Are you going to fix this hole?’ They said that’s not their job,” Clarke said. “We’ve got four or five kids who play a lot. So what I did is I tried to secure it.”
When Clarke walked in the area, the asphalt collapsed and he fell into the eight-foot hole, where he stayed for 20 to 25 minutes before firefighters rescued him.
“I’d like to thank the fire department,” Clarke said. “Again, I don’t know who this guy is but he’s like Hercules and he brought me up out of that hole and I appreciate him.”
Clarke said he is thankful, but still frustrated that the hole has not been taken care of.
“The hole has been here about a week now,” he said. “Why would you come and patch up that hole and really not get somebody else? Even if it was the water department. They could have even put a cover, one of those steel plates that you can move them but nobody would have been able to fall in that hole there.”
The Philadelphia Water Department said they plan on reevaluating the hole.