A man fell roughly 20 feet through a collapsing concrete porch in Oglethorpe County on Friday evening, landing in a hole with unstable concrete hanging above him. Rescue crews spent hours working to free him, eventually pulling him out through an opening in a basement wall before he was rushed to a hospital.
The Athens-Clarke County Fire Department Technical Rescue Team was called in to assist Oglethorpe County Fire with the complex extraction, according to Atlanta News First. The man had fallen into a hole about 20 feet deep, with loose and unstable concrete looming above him, raising the risk of further collapse during the rescue itself.
Crews first had to clear away the broken concrete surrounding him before they could safely reach him, per WSB-TV. Rescuers then used a ladder to build an elevated anchor point for a rope-rescue system, the station reported, a setup that allowed them to lower equipment and personnel into the hole without relying on unstable footing nearby.
A Careful Lift Through a Basement Wall
Once crews reached the man, they secured him in a Stokes basket, a rigid stretcher designed for exactly this kind of vertical, rope-assisted extraction, the station's report notes. A mechanical raising system was then used to lift him out of the hole using that equipment and the specialized stretcher.
From there, rescue crews delivered him to waiting emergency medical personnel through an opening in a basement wall, Atlanta News First reported. He was taken to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center, though officials had not released details about his condition as of Friday night, according to the same account.
Fire Chief Points to Training and Coordination
Athens-Clarke County Fire Chief Nate Moss commended responders for their teamwork following the rescue. He said the incident highlighted specialized training, sound decision-making, and coordination between agencies in complex technical rescues, a dynamic that proved essential given the instability of the concrete and the confined nature of the extraction.
That kind of readiness is built into the department's day-to-day operations. Athens-Clarke County firefighters are required to log more than 220 hours of training per year, according to Athens-Clarke County government, while the department overall handles more than 8,400 calls for service annually out of nine fire stations across the county, with a front-line fleet that includes two rescue trucks.
No further details have emerged about the man's condition or what caused the porch to give way. Both the extent of his injuries and the circumstances behind the collapse remain unreported.
