SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. — A surveyor fell 50 feet at a construction site and will live to tell the story.
Rural Metro Fire received an emergency call on Tuesday morning from the crew's supervisor. The call said a man had fallen through plywood and into a retention or drainage trench at a new home construction site near Schnepf and Combs roads.
Rural Metro Battalion Chief Christopher Divver said Tuesday that rescuers kept the man comfortable by lowering food, water, a helmet, and a radio to him as he waited.
Eventually, a ladder truck from Mesa Fire Department arrived to act as an anchor so that a rescuer could be lowered into the hole. The rescuer then placed a harness around the fallen man, and the two were pulled out together.
The rescue took five hours, but the man emerged from the hole with just minor injuries, according to Divver.
An ambulance took the unidentified surveyor to Banner Desert Trauma Center for further evaluation.