RICHMOND, Va. -- First responders in Richmond had a busy Monday morning, as they had to rescue a man who fell 40 feet into a manhole.
Crews first got the call before 5 a.m. from the Southern States silos, which are fenced and soon to be demolished.
"It was an active construction site and fenced off, so I'm not sure how he got into the building," explained Battalion Chief Bailey Martin.
Thankfully, the man had his cell phone and was able to call for help, but it still took crews over an hour to locate and rescue him.
“Then were able to use a rope rescue to get him out of the confined space," noted Martin.
CBS 6 watched the man walk into an ambulance with what appeared to be minor injuries.
"We have a regional team, and they train regularly for these types of incidents," he noted. "They are infrequent, but they have had the potential to be life threatening, so we do take them very seriously."
Martin wants to warn people to stay away from the silos because while they are no longer active work zones, he says they still aren’t safe.
"These structures there, they maybe haven't been fully decommissioned, but a lot of times this building is very dangerous in itself," he said.
Richmond Fire explained the What 3 Words phone app can be helpful for people in the city to download, especially if you live or spend time near the river, because it allows crews to determine your exact location within a 10 by 10 square.
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