Fire crews pulled off a tense, two-hour rescue Feb. 8 in Fontana after a woman fell 25 feet into an old septic tank outside her home.
“She was screaming and we could barely hear her, and we were close to the hole,” Lizeth Gonzalez, a friend of Ms. Tapia, told a KTLA reporter. “All we could hear was a slight echo of her voice.”
The hole, which was a previously used septic tank, had opened under a brick-covered porch, San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Eric Sherwin told KTLA.
Firefighters could not see Ms. Tapia, but made voice contact. She told them that the ground beneath her had collapsed as she was walking outside her home, according to the fire department news release.
Crews set up a rope system using a tripod to establish a high point that would minimize stress on the surrounding ground and help prevent further cave-in, the release said.
When she surfaced around noon, she was wearing a harness and helmet, KTLA reported. Firefighters and paramedics evaluated her, and then took her to a hospital.
KTLA reported that Ms. Tapia had a gash on her leg but no broken bones.
After the rescue, the fire department said the scene was turned over to the state Department of Housing for investigation of septic tank safety. No evacuation of the home was required, and the family living in the house was expected to return home that evening, according to the department.
The department’s rescue team was joined by a Rancho Cucamonga fire crew in the rescue.
It was unclear if recent rain played a role in the ground giving way.
