Firefighters pull man from storm drain

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin firefighters rescued a man trapped in a storm drain using the GPS in his cell phone.

Fire department dispatcher Norman Lawrence took the call at 6:11 p.m. Wednesday.

"He said 'I'm trapped in a storm sewer," said Lawrence. It was the first time the dispatcher had heard those words in his two and a half years on the job.

"He wasn't cooperating at first, and sounded tired and embarrassed," said Lawrence.

As the two kept talking, Lawrence used cell phone tracking technology to map the man's location near 50th and Duval Street in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

The call kept cutting in and out, and Lawrence told the man if they got diconnected, to start yelling so rescue crews on the street could hear him. The man found a small opening in a gutter drain near the corner of 50th and Duval and stuck his arm out.

Crews saw him and opened the manhole above the opening. They pulled him to safety. The man was unharmed.

According to David Belknap with the Austin Fire Department, he was in the storm drain about 20 minutes and traveled about five blocks.

The man originally told the dispatcher he had chased a friend into the underground tunnel, but later recanted his story, saying he entered alone.

Police took the man into custody for a psychological evaluation. 

911 dispatchers are able to track phones using GPS (global positioning system) and cell phone tower tracking.