Trapped man rescued from well in DeLand, says he went in ‘just to say that he did'

DELAND, Fla. — Well, that didn’t turn out very well.

Volusia County Fire Rescue had to rescue a man out of a 30-foot deep well in DeLand after he climbed into it and couldn’t get back out.

“He wanted to go down the well just to say that he did it and get out of it. Unfortunately,  he didn't have the strength to get out of it,” said Scott Smoak, battalion chief with Volusia County Fire Rescue.

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The department called in its technical rescue team, which is specially trained to work in confined spaces and with ropes.

The team spent more than an hour working in the dark to get the man out around 2 a.m. on Wednesday – Halloween morning.

The team got the man out with just a few bumps and bruises.

“Luckily he was awake, he was conscious, he was talking to us the whole time,” Smoak said.

Smoak said he is thankful that the operation was successful.

“It has been quite a while since we had to get a real person out of a well,” he said.

This well in DeLand is one of many in the area, and Smoak said people need to be careful to avoid repeat scenarios.

“When you come across an open shaft of any kind that goes down into the well, stay away from it.  We need to get it marked, and sealed up somehow, and get a barrier around it so we can try to prevent people from going down in these things,” Smoak said.

Especially, he said, on Halloween.

“A lot of people do crazy things, pranks and all that kind of stuff, so we are asking that if you come across anything abnormal, stay away from it, and don't participate in any type of activities like that,” he said.

Cox Media Group