It's a trope often repeat in old black-and-white TV shows: "Timmy Fell down the well." But this morning in Corozal it was more like Grandpa fell down the well. That's after an elderly resident of Corozal town's Alta Mira area found himself in quite a predicament while trying to fish out his good bucket.
Luckily for him, firefighters were quickly called to the scene and managed to pull him up in scenes that were quite remarkably photographed.
It's one of those times that emergency services really proved their utility, and tonight Cherisse Halsall has the story:
This is how firefighters found the elderly Mr Cortez in the Alta Mira area of Corozal town, this morning
How they rescued him is a story of both heroism and quick thinking under pressure:
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor
"The bucket he was using actually fell to the bottom of the well, and um he was trying to, he was trying to get well, he was trying to get the bucket himself, you know using his makeshift safety harness and what have you when it gave way and he fell to the bottom. Now, this is an. Approximate 50 feet deep and so my guys from Corozal responded, five in total but the rescue was conducted by our 13-year veteran firefighter Mr Jones. Now, Mr Barney Jones as I mentioned he's been with us for a number of years and he's trained in first aid and rescue and what have you so that was, it was crucial for us that he was around at the time that he could have expertly rendered his assistance in making this rescue go or Flo as smoothly as it did."
Fortunately for Mr Cortez when his equipment gave way he only fell to approximately 50 feet so he did not reach the bottom which was always a plus for him because to reach the bottom we had no idea how much water was in the well and it could have been a worst-case scenario, fortunately when we looked him out he had only sustained minor scrapes and scratches to the upper portion of his body.
And while its mission accomplished, whose mission should it have been really? We asked Mortis.
Cherisse Halsall:
"Is it a regular thing, sometimes you have these emergencies that you don't really understand who to call when someone falls down a well, is it the firefighters, are they the right people?"
Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor
"Um, I'm not going to say we are the right or the wrong people. I am just going to say that it's a norm that everybody calls the fire department for just about anything, we have also rescued a cat out of a tree vs. a dog that has been stuck in a drain. So, receiving calls for a well isn't something new, we. Have been receiving these calls periodically over a number of years, fortunately for us the fire department has recently conducted an impact rescue training whereby firefighters from across the country did about 9 days of intensive rope rescue and what have you. So this training almost came in the knick of time."
Again Mortis says he credits the recent department-wide rope training with the fact that any of his officers should have been able to effect this rescue.
