Firefighters Rescue Woman After Narrowly Escaping Sink Hole
Channel: LAFD
Date: 2023-02-03

Thursday night, Firefighters responded to reports of a broken water in Hollywood, where they narrowly escaped falling into a sink hole and then rescued a woman from her flooded home.

Los Angeles City Firefighters responded to the 6000 of West Fountain Avenue at 9:31 PM on the evening of February 2, 2023, to investigate reports of flooding in the street. Engine 82 arrived at the address where the flooding was reported to find water flowing in the gutters, but it was not clear where it originated. As the crew heard the street begin to rumble under the fire engine, the apparatus driver (engineer) took off, just as a large hole appeared under them. The rear of the apparatus fell back into the hole, which grew as the engine struggled to overcome the suddenly precarious position.

The Rosenbauer Electric Fire Engine 82, being the only all-wheel drive fire engine in the fleet, gained enough traction with the power going to the front wheels to pull itself out of the hole and drive clear of the hazard (and sustained some damage to the rear).

As water shot approximately 70 feet into the air, firefighters received reports of a woman trapped in a home being pounded by the falling stream of water. A portion of her roof collapsed, and when crews opened the door to make entry, they were met with a river flowing from behind the door. Crews were able to rescue the woman, without injury. Her home has now been deemed unsafe to stay in, by Building and Safety. A SAVE card has been issued to help her with temporary lodging.

Thankfully, neither firefighters nor residents were injured during this incident.

Note: Despite some audio from the news clip (video), there are at least two electric fire engines in service in the United States, specifically another in Madison, Wisconsin. Another has been announced by Charlotte Fire Department in North Carolina, but to the best of our knowledge, it has not yet been put into service.