Costa Mesa firefighters pull man out of sludge

When a 51-year-old Orange County Sanitation Department worker dropped nearly 20 feet into a hole filled with muck and filth, local emergency personnel turned to Costa Mesa Fire Department rescuers to help get him out.

“He was on the radio talking about how he was hurt but they couldn’t find him for whatever reason,” Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Scott Broussard said.

The man, whom officials did not identify, was working at a county water sanitation plant in Fountain Valley at about 5 a.m. when he fell 19 feet into a hole filled with all of the remnants of purified water, or sludge.

He broke his leg, and possibly his shoulder, and was transferred to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

Because of the depth and surroundings, pulling the man out of the hole was more complicated than the Fountain Valley Fire Department could handle with its equipment.

The Costa Mesa Fire Department is one of the county and state’s Urban Search and Rescue units, which carry the equipment and have the training to make technically difficult rescues. Outside of being stuck in a tarry, gooey mess, officials said, the rescue was seamless.

Four firefighters descended into the hole and put the man into a Stokes Basket and lifted him up using pulleys.

Huntington Beach firefighters assisted in the rescue.

— Joseph Serna