A St. Petersburg Fire Rescue crew rescued a man from a deep hole at a construction site Wednesday morning.
The 57-year-old man, who has not been identified, was working with a construction crew atop a concrete lift station at 92nd Avenue N and 3rd Street. Authorities said he may have backed into the 2-foot-by-2-foot opening before falling 20 to 25 feet.
The accident happened around 9:40 a.m., and the man was trapped for about an hour.
Because he was confined in a tight space, rescue crews responded with their Heavy Rescue team. The crew used a tripod system, which had a cable wire attached to it.
"The tripod system has a cable wired to it and the cable wire was attached to the stokes basket, once they get down to the pit they assess the patient," said Deputy Fire Marshal Lt. Steve Lawrence. "He was stable at that time he was treated for his injuries, they packaged him, put him in the Stokes basket and they had to lift him vertically up out of the hole."
Rescue officials used a basket to retrieve the man. He suffered fractures to his arms and legs and was transferred to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.
Authorities were concerned about the possibility of rain since there was already sewer water in the hole, but that did not become an issue.
The construction worker was employed by Kloote Contracting out of Palm Harbor. Crew members were working to rebuild a sanitation lift station for the city.