[UPDATE: This article was updated with information about a man being rescued]
Firefighters Monday, April 6 rescued a man who was trapped in a storm drain in the area of the Long Beach/Lakewood border.
Rescuers went to the 6700 block of East Carson Street late about 10:30am, according to the Long Beach Fire Department.
Shortly before noon, the LBFD reported that rescuers had made voice contact with the man, and that a two-person “confined space rescue team” was being sent into the drain to free him. There was some initial confusion that there might be additional people in need of rescue.
The unidentified man, who was described as “a little uncooperative,” fled further into the storm drain instead of meeting fire crews at a determined location, according to LBFD Public Information Brian Fisk. It was not immediately clear why the man didn’t cooperate with the rescue.
Fire crews sent a two-person “confined space rescue team” into the drain to find him, and Long Beach water department crews sent a robotic camera into the drain, but neither could locate him, Fisk said.
About noon, the man was reported a few blocks north, and was rescued through a manhole cover near Harvey Way and Nipomo Avenue, according to Fisk and Capt. Rob Artle of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Station 94.
Further information about the rescue or the man’s condition was not immediately available.
