The Southside Fire Company responded to what turned out to be a confined space rescue yesterday on Montrose Turnpike in Owego.
Firefighters were dispatched around 11 AM to the report of a man down exposed to fumes. Upon arrival Southside firefighters determined that a dangerous level of Carbon Monoxide was coming from a gas-powered pump, being operated in an underground bunker, which was an L-shaped room at the bottom of a ten foot deep shaft.
Officials believe the room to be an old air-raid shaft from the 1950s.
Further assistance was immediately called from the Campville and Owego Fire Departments. Firefighters put on their air-packs and descended into the shelter remove what turned out to be TWO victims overcome by carbon monoxide. They were lifted from the narrow shaft by firefighters with a rope.
The first victim was transported by Owego Ambulance to Robert Packer Hospital. The second victim was transported by helicopter to the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse for treatment in their hyperbaric chamber.
There is no update on the patient’s conditions at this time; no firefighters were injured in the rescue.
