One dead, one hurt after two plunge into septic tank, California firefighters say

One man died after he and a friend fell into a septic tank while working on it near Bakersfield, California firefighters said.

The Kern County Fire Department responded to the accident on Colene Street at 2:25 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday, Dec. 29, an incident report said.

The two men had fallen 8 to 10 feet into the tank, KGET reported.

Firefighters found one man had escaped the septic tank but the other was still trapped inside with high levels of hydrogen sulfide gas, the incident report said.

An ambulance took the first man to the hospital while firefighters conducted a “rapid confined space rescue” on the second, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, the report said.

Information on the first man’s injuries and medical condition was not available.

The property owner and a friend had been working on the septic tank before falling in, Bakersfield Now reported.

This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 1:20 PM with the headline "One dead, one hurt after two plunge into septic tank, California firefighters say."