GRIFFIN, IN (WFIE) -
Rescue crews in Posey County responded to a scary situation on Friday morning. A man fell into an 8-foot-deep hole filled with hog manure.
This happened at the Griffin Pig, LLC farm near Griffin, IN, on Upper Griffin Road.
It was around 8 Friday morning when Kane Schmitt, who happens to be a trained first responder from Wadesville, was working at a nearby farm in Griffin.
"A guy came up screaming and hollering. He didn't speak English and said he needed help and in a roundabout way said there's a man in a hole and he needed help," said Schmitt.
That's when Kane hopped in his truck and followed the man down the road to Griffin Pig Farm where they found a man at the bottom of an eight foot deep manure pit.
"It's filled with methane gas and other gases that are harmful to breathe in. Ninety nine percent of the time, you don't come out of a hole like that," said Schmitt.
But Schmitt says they could tell the man at the bottom was still breathing. That's when Griffin Fire Department and EMS showed up. Air Evac was dispatched.
Schmitt, being the only one on scene small enough to squeeze through, was tied up and down the hole he went.
"I had to suck in a little bit. I could hardly fit in there. I got down in the hole of course with an air pack on and tied the guy up," said Schmitt.
He says the hole was dark and only about four feet wide. He says the man's level of consciousness was very diminished and by the time they got him tied up and lifted out, he was fighting for his life.
While Schmitt was the only one down in the hole, it took a lot of man power to see the rescue through.
Tim Compton, Chief of Griffin Fire Department, says in his 32 years, he's never been part of a rescue like this one.
The man was taken by helicopter to Evansville.
His condition is unknown at this time.
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