Posted on 08/26/2019 12:21:13 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
She fell in while doing maintenance work
(Newser) – An Oregon woman almost died in an extremely unpleasant way after falling into a septic tank at her rural home, authorities say. Firefighters believe the Clackamas County woman was doing maintenance work when she fell into the tank, where she was trapped for up to three days, KPTV reports. "It looks like there was work being done on the septic tank," says Estacada Rural Fire District No. 69 division chief Richard Anderson. "There was a tractor in the area and a hole had been dug exposing the tank. And then she had fallen through about a 2-foot by 2-foot hole in kind of the rusted metal top of the tank." The woman, who lives alone, was found Tuesday afternoon when her daughter, who hadn't heard from her in a few days, drove up to check on her.
Anderson says the woman was found lying with her face just above the raw sewage. He says she was alert enough to grab the handle of a tool that was lowered down, KATU reports. "She was able to grab ahold of that, sit up slightly and they were able to get some other poles, a strap around her back and under her arms and then hoist her up out with that," the chief says. He says she had no visible injuries, but was taken by helicopter to a Portland hospital to be checked out for possible infections and the effects of having been in a space with limited oxygen for a long time. A neighbor says that according to relatives, the woman is expected to make a full recovery.
Oddly, we used to give them 'favorability'.
watch, she’ll convert to vegan now ...
I would suggest that the amount of oxygen at nose level depends on how deep the tank is, how far below surface the top of the tank is, how tall the person is and perhaps whether it was windy or not (and whether it was protected from winds by winds, trees etc)... there are lots of variables but most tanks are either 6 or 8 feet deep so she obviously was close enough to the hole where the lid normally goes that she got enough. The article also says that "...she had fallen through about a 2-foot by 2-foot hole in kind of the rusted metal top of the tank." Since she broke through, the hole was likely much larger than the standard 18" x 18" hole so even more oxygen came in. What I want to know is who on earth would have used a 'metal top'? Did they not know they were creating a death trap?
Attempted sewercide?
Septic tanks are supposed to be pumped out every 3 to 5 years. Sounds to me like she was just uncovering the lid so that the pump truck could have access. There is also a dam at the outflow of the first tank before it goes into the second tank.... those dams are notorious for breaking and it's a good idea to make sure that something is there to keep the raw sewage from the first tank from going straight into the second tank which is more for 'refinement' before it discharges into the weeping tiles....
Amazing that she was not killed by the toxic gas in that tank. Must have been some kind of ventilation.
~~ groan~~
She has all the experience she needs to head up the DCN now.
There was a 2x2 rusted out hole in the top, so that probably allowed enough oxygen in for her to just barely survive.
three days without water? Hmmm.
How’s your gag reflex?
I cleaned out my septic tanks not long ago. They’re deep and are dangerous. Need to be very cautious around them.
On the bright side, she didn’t have to go far to find the john.
“Cops got nothin to go on,.........”
The poor woman thought she died and moved to San Fransisco.
I had a teacher, very popular, who, years later, died of asphyxiation when he was working alone on his septic tank. The lady is lucky to be alive.
Metal septic tanks were common until sometime in the 1970s.The plumbers buried a metal septic tank outside my childhood home in 1960 as part of installing indoor toilet.Sometime in the late 1970s a hole appeared in the side yard. The tank rusted through and the sod fell in .Easily could have been a tragedy. The new one was concrete.
Steel tanks were lighter, cheaper and easier to handle but they polluted a lot of places with sewerage or gasoline.(The two most common uses of buried tanks.)
I would say they are all trapped in a septic tank. Except that they seem to want to stay there so I guess they are not trapped.
Was she in San Fran?
woman needs to buy a Collie and name him “Lassie” ...
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