Mini video camera truck used to find child stuck in central Columbia storm sewer
Alison Patton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Utilities Department uses a mini truck that has a camera on it to regularly check storm drain pipes, but that tool came in handy Thursday when a child got stuck in the pipes and needed assistance getting out.
“We use that camera to run through the system, once we had an idea of where the individual was at, to try to get a good location on exactly where they were underground,” said Derek Ault, a sewer and storm water maintenance supervisor for Columbia.
A 12-year-old boy is believed to have crawled into a culvert box that is at the end of a stream near West Parkway Drive off of West Broadway, Columbia Fire Department Assistant Chief Lester Shewmake said.
Shewmake said some reports noted the child could have run off or was hiding.
CFD searched above and below ground, and also tried to track the child’s phone, but since the phone was underground, the signal was thrown off, Shewmake said.
The underground pipes vary in size, with some as big as 6 feet, and others 6 inches, Ault said.
The manhole cover that the child was extracted from is about 22 inches wide, according to measurements ABC 17 News took. The actual pipe he was in was about 18 inches, Ault said.
Utilities crews sent in the mini truck, and as it moved through the pipes, the camera feed was sent back to a monitor in a bigger box truck, and that’s how they found the child.
Shewmake said fire crews and the family of the boy are happy it ended the way it did.
“The parents were extremely excited to be able to get their son out of the area, and our crews especially were extremely excited, too,” Shewmake said. “It was a long search effort.”
“Everybody performed their jobs seamlessly, did a really good job at being there in a timely manner and facilitating the whole thing together,” Ault said.
The child was taken to the hospital for observation after getting out. Shewmake couldn’t give ABC 17 News an update on his condition.