t's something Thornton firefighters train for.
And that practice paid off in a big way this past weekend when a man found himself stuck in a storm drain.
Firefighters Richard Gaddis and Forrest Oldham were the ones to suited up and went down into a maze below the street.
"We train for situations like this, we train extensively for situations like this, but I have never been involved in something like that before," Oldham told 9 News.
Gaddis explained: "A long umbilical cord tube, about 300 feet worth of hose, we attach to and got an outside air supply."
The difficult part came when they realized how far in the man was stuck. They were at the limit of their lines -- 550 feet.
In addition to the equipment and techniques, the team also had another thing to keep in the forefront -- Mother Nature.
"Command was watching the weather the whole time we were down there, cause heavy rains would have flooded the area we were in. And, we would have been leaving expeditiously," Oldham said.
Gaddis said the two were in about two inches of water.
"The initial tube was large enough for both of us to get through. But, you're crawling on your hands and belly, moving your elbows, and you’re hoping things open somewhere and thankfully it did."
The operation that took several hours to complete was deemed successful.
The victim was transported to a hospital for undisclosed injuries.
