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  Man falls through floor of Connecticut home into hidden 19th-century
  well

Social Sharing

  [21]As It Happens

Man falls through floor of Connecticut home into hidden 19th-century well

  Chris Town was helping a friend move into her new home when he suddenly
  fell through the floorboards and into the cold, dark waters of a
  19th-century well.

Social Sharing

'I was a bit shocked to find myself in a well,' Chris Town says after first
responders pulled him to safety

  CBC Radio · Posted: Jul 02, 2020 4:13 PM ET | Last Updated: July 2
  Firefighters rescued Christopher Town after he fell through the floor
  of a Guilford, Conn., home and into a six-metre deep well. (Guilford
  Police Department)
  (BUTTON)
  comments
  Listen6:41

  Chris Town was helping a friend move into her new home when he suddenly
  fell through the floorboards and into the cold, dark waters of a
  19th-century well.

  It took a team of firefighters to pull the 67-year-old Connecticut man
  out of the more than six-metre deep hole, but he survived the ordeal
  relatively unscathed except for a few cuts and bruises.

  "I was a bit shocked to find myself in a well," Town told As It Happens
  guest host Duncan McCue. "I had no idea that there was a well under
  there, nor did ... the friend we were helping move in."

A 'soft spot' in the floor

  Town and his wife Angie were helping their friend Diane Martin move
  into a home she's renting in Guilford, Conn., on Sunday.
  Town volunteered to put together a bed frame for Martin's 10-year-old
  son.

  He says Martin warned him there was a "soft spot" in the room, but
  didn't think too much of it because it was on the ground floor. She
  asked him to make sure the bed covered the spot so her son wouldn't
  accidentally put his foot through the floorboards and get stuck.

  "So I opened up the box and started putting together the pieces, the
  bed frame, and I was probably up to part three out of five, and I stood
  up, and apparently when I stood up, I stood up right on top of that
  soft spot," Town said.

  "And I heard a noise and I looked down, and the floor is disappearing
  before me and I'm dropping."
  The Connecticut home, which dates back to the 1840s, has a well
  underneath the floor. (Guildford Police Department)

  At first, he didn't quite realize what was happening.

  "I mean, we're on the ground floor. How far can I drop? Well, I kept
  dropping," he said. "And then I felt my feet going in water, and I went
  in water over my head."

  Town managed to grab ahold of some rocks that lined the inside of the
  well and pull himself up until he was about waist deep.

  Then he heard his wife calling. She ended up standing at the doorway of
  the bedroom, afraid to go inside in case the entire room gave way.

  "I think I am still in shock," [22]Angie Town told NBC News. "Surreal.
  I mean he was standing in front of me and he was gone."
    * [23]'I don't like to bother people,' says man who drove himself to
      the ER with a nail in his heart

    * [24]'I'm lucky,' says farmer who cut off his own trapped leg with a
      pocket knife

  Town says he felt around for more handholds, but quickly realized there
  was no way he could climb out on his own.

  "I'm not a kid anymore, right?" he said. "I don't go climbing walls on
  a regular basis."

  His wife called first responders. After arriving, they lowered
  firefighter Don Venuti into the well. Venuti strapped a harness around
  Town, and his colleagues pulled the pair to safety.

  "Certainly this situation is very unique and presented itself with a
  lot of obstacles to overcome," Guilford Fire Department Capt. Chris
  Gode [25]told the New York Times.

  "First one I've done in my career, and I've been on the job for 26
  years."

Questions about the house

  Town says he was "chattering and shaking" when he finally emerged.
  Paramedics stripped off his wet clothes inside the ambulance and
  wrapped him in a blanket. He was taken to hospital, but says he's
  unharmed and doing well.

  "The fire department did an excellent job. You know, they are very good
  people who knew what the hell they were doing," he said.

  "And I have my wife and them to thank for the fact that I'm still
  alive."
  Chris Town, left, credits firefighters and his wife Angie Town, right,
  with saving his life after he fell into a well under a Connecticut
  home. (Submitted by Christopher Town)

  The Guilford Police Department said on Facebook that the house was
  built in 1843, and likely had a well outside.

  "There was a renovation and addition in 1981. At some point this well
  was covered with simple wood flooring and no subfloor or well cap,"
  police said.

  The landlord, who hasn't responded to media requests, is now
  responsible for sealing it back up and making sure the well is properly
  covered.

  Martin, meanwhile, told NBC she has "a lot of questions" about the
  safety of the home she's about to move her children into.
    * [26]Toronto engineer describes being trapped in a flooded elevator
      with water up to his chin

    * [27]Watch this California transit worker save a man from an
      oncoming train

  Town says he experiences "horrors" when he imagines what might have
  happened if Martin, a single mom, had fallen into the well instead.

  "What worries me even more would be the 10-year-old little boy who
  again, is autistic, and he doesn't swim terribly well … or the
  13-year-old daughter," he said.

  "It's not that I wanted to see the bottom of the well, and it's
  unfortunate that I did, but I feel that it's much better that it was
  me."
    __________________________________________________________________

  Written by Sheena Goodyear. Interview with Chris Town produced by Katie
  Geleff.

More from this episode

    * New
      Why this natural stylist is celebrating a new Virginia law that
      bans hair discrimination
    * [28]Man falls through floor of Connecticut home into hidden
      19th-century well
    * [29]FULL EPISODE: As It Happens: The Thursday Edition

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