LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Emergency crews rescued an MSD worker that fell 20 feet into a sewer pump well in eastern Jefferson County Thursday afternoon.
During a news briefing after the woman's rescue, Anchorage Middletown Fire and EMS spokesman Salvador Melendez said firefighters responded to a residential area on Old Harrods Creek Road near Cox Avenue just at 11:36 a.m. after receiving a call from a sanitation truck driver who heard someone calling for help.
"He stopped his truck and discovered that a MSD worker was working on a sewer pump system — a sewer pump well — who had fallen down that well," Melendez said. "He discovered that by seeing a radio that was laying around that alerted him that something was going on."
That driver was identified as Keith Ware, who works for Republic Services Sanitation. Ware said because his truck was so loud, and the water in the pump was so loud, it's a miracle he even heard her yelling.
He told WDRB he was driving along on his route when he noticed an MSD truck in the road, which he said isn't unusual.
"I was going to return later to service the area, but something just seemed a little off because her doors were open," Ware said.
That's when he got out and started looking for the worker.
"I'm looking around and I heard something. I wasn't sure what it was, and then again I heard what I thought was 'help,'" he said. "So I go through the bushes. That's where this well was, and I look down this well and there's this woman standing on top of these enormous pumps with water raging around her and she was like 'I need help, I fell, I hit my head.'"
Keith Ware, who works for Republic Services Sanitation, heard the MSD worker yelling for help after falling in a pump well. (WDRB image)
He called 911. According to Melendez, crews arrived four minutes after receiving the call from dispatchers.
For those four minutes before help arrived, the woman was no longer alone.
"She seemed to be OK, and holding on for dear life to this ladder that was leading down to this well," Ware said. "I didn't have much conversation but she was really happy that I was there."
Melendez said crews set up a rescue system when it was discovered they had a "confined space rescue situation."
The rescue team specializes in confined space rescues and quickly set up a "pick-off system." Crews then descended about 20 feet into the hole where they found the worker alert and responsive. Melendez said once crews realized the worker was alert and oriented, they were able to slow down and "be more methodical to ensure that that remained the case."
The worker — who was in the well for about an hour before being rescued — was extracted about 25 minutes after crews arrived on scene. Melendez said she was taken to UofL Health Hospital in downtown Louisville for observation, but had no visible physical injuries and is expected to be OK.
Melendez praised the sanitation driver for taking action "and being alert and aware of what's going on."
"He played a big part in ensuring that this was a successful rescue instead of something else, something more negative," he said.
"That's something that my company really stresses, safety. Making sure everyone returns home safely in one piece," said Ware. "Everyone was praying for her and hoping for the best for her at my job."
Amazingly, this wasn't the first time Ware has been in a situation like this. He also saved a man's life while on his route when he saw him down in his garage after suffering a medical emergency.
Melendez also thanked the members of the rescue team who pulled the woman to safety. "This is where training for these types of instances pays off," he said.
MSD Public Information Officer Harold Adams expressed his gratitude to the truck driver who heard the woman's calls for help and took action.
Adams described the opening where the worker fell as a "wet well."
"It's really a sanitary pump station," he said. "Ordinarily, we rely on gravity to get wastewater to our Morris Forman facility, but at certain points we get a little bit of uphill so pumps have to give it a little push. That's what this station is — a pump station."
MSD said the woman was working by herself performing preventative maintenance on the sewer well system before she fell.
Adams said MSD's Accident Investigation Team will review the incident "and determine what happened and take any corrective action, if necessary."
The woman's name has not been released.
The worker was alert and oriented when she was taken to the hospital.
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