Antioch man stuck in storm drain rescued after two days

ANTIOCH >> Firefighters, police and city public works staff rescued a man Sunday evening who was trapped for hours and possibly days in a storm drain, authorities said.

About 50 people with the district joined Antioch police, East Contra Costa fire district firefighters and Antioch city staff at a drain in the 3100 block of Buchanan Road to coordinate efforts on behalf of the man, who was responsive and talked with rescuers during the lengthy effort, according to Contra Costa County Fire Protection District social media posts.

Firefighters responded to the scene shortly after 5:35 p.m. for reports of a confinedspace rescue.

Roughly four hours later, ConFire posted that the man had been freed unhurt from a 16-inch underground pipe where he had been stuck. The man, described as being in his mid-30s, was taken to Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch for assessment. His condition could not be confirmed on Monday afternoon.

On Monday, ConFire spokesman Steve Hill said the man didn't fall into the drain, contrary to other media outlets' initial reports. “He went into that storm drain of his own volition,” Hill said, adding that rescuers were not able to find where the man entered what he described as an extensive underground infrastructure meant to handle rainwater.

“He had crawled into this very small stormwater drainage pipe until he came to a fairly significant debris field, and could not go back,” said Hill, who added that the man told rescuers he had been there for two days, a claim that could not immediately be verified but seemed to fit later medical evaluations.

“A couple of things are borderline miraculous: that passersby heard his cries and reported them to 911,” Hill said. “He was separated from access points by a fence, and it was windy out. When firefighters responded, our battalion chief wasn't willing to cancel the assignment without investigating, and that led him to believe there was someone down there.”

Hill also praised the firefighters, whose training for multiple kinds of rescues aided their efforts Sunday, as well as Antioch city public works staff, who helped narrow down the man's exact location.

“There were a lot of pipes down there, a lot of places he could have been,” HIll said of the fairly complex rescue. “The incident commander hedged his bets with a Plan A and B. Plan A succeeded when firefighters were able to reach the vault and clear the debris. At the same time, public works folks had a backhoe to dig down to the concrete pipe on the opposite side” of the man's location.