On Tuesday, a firefighter was sucked into a drainage pipe near Falaise, in Calvados. He travelled about fifteen metres whilst holding his breath before emerging safe and sound from the pipe, according to our colleagues at a local media outlet.
“We had a narrow escape,” Colonel Régis Deza, director of SDIS 14, told our colleagues. At around midday on Tuesday, whilst a professional firefighter specialising in water rescue was walking alongside a flooded house in Crocy, near Falaise (Calvados), he was sucked into a drainage pipe.
About fifteen metres whilst free-diving
It all happened very quickly. According to the same source, the 38-year-old man was swept away for about fifteen metres before emerging in a field. “There was 1.50 metres of water and a strong current,” explains Régis Deza. “He clung to some tree branches and a colleague managed to come and rescue him.”
It’s a good thing he’s a strong swimmer. We were also lucky that there weren’t any branches in the drainpipe. It could have been much worse.
The firefighter, based at the Folie-Couvrechef fire station in Caen, was injured. He suffered a severe dislocated shoulder and underwent surgery. “He is due to be discharged from hospital at 8 pm; we are awaiting further news,” said the colonel. “We have been deeply affected by what has happened.”