Athens firefighters rescued a woman tonight who was swimming inside a 70-foot high water tank filled with 350,000 gallons of water.
The woman broke into a fence barrier and climbed the ladder to the top of the tank on Elm Street. A retired Athens Police Officer, Doug Duren, who lives nearby, saw her and contacted authorities.
Police, firefighters and Water Dept. personnel responded. Firefighters Hunter Campbell and Coty Collins climbed the tank and found her swimming inside and convinced her to come to them. They secured her with a harness, got her over the edge and walked down the ladder with her.
Police Chief Floyd Johnson said officers are carrying her for a mental evaluation.
"We appreciate the neighbors and Mr. Duren who contacted authorities because we could have had a very different outcome," Johnson said.
Water/Wastewater Department Manager Jimmy Junkin said personnel will drain the tank tonight and remove any debris and sanitize the tank.
Junkin said a contractor re-painted the tank this week, and it appears the hatch was not secured. The hatch did close on her after she went inside the tank.
Junkin said Athens has clean water in other tanks, and he does not expect any disruption in service.
H/T to Heath from Cooper Branch
Fuck me runnin' !!!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Athens and know where the tank is and the goobers that rescued her !!!
So was she wearing anything?
ReplyDeletePublic pools-
ReplyDeleteThe original gender neutral latrine.
Reminds me of that time about 8 years ago when a woman's body was found inside the water tank atop the Hotel Cecil in Los Angeles....the tank that supplied ALL the fresh water for the building. She had been seen on camera leaving the hotel elevator SEVERAL DAYS before her body was found.
ReplyDeleteI remember that too Dan.
DeleteAnd a "Boil Order" is in effect.................
ReplyDeleteDead pigeons in the water tanks aren't unknown. This is how vulnerable the water supply is.
ReplyDeleteWait ... "Junkin said Athens has clean water in other tanks, and he does not expect any disruption in service."
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean they don't chlorinate or treat in any way the water in the tanks before sending it to your house water supply? Because meth-head chick swimming in it or not, I don't think you want to drink that without treatment. Stuff grows in it.
I know if our water system loses pressure even for a little while we get a BOIL WATER order. There's no storage tank, it's just not enough pressure to guarantee the water in the pipes is continuously replaced and can't just sit still.
What state, please? I'm guessing Alabama from ChuckInBama's screnn name.
ReplyDeleteUnsolicited Opinion: Consider that line stolen. It's a beaut. Ha!
Steve: Yeah, but a few dead birds or one stinky meth-head's bodily secretions divided by 350,000 gallons means there's not a lot to worry about. IMHUO (the U is uninformed) the public health risk is negligible.
Dan: Yuck. However, the dilution factor of oh, wait, nevermind, still Yucky. Coroner: "Well, this could've been a non-event but the corpse was sucked into the outflow pipe, which explains the contaminated bodily secretions being piped directly into the drinking water of those 100,000 late Vegas citizens. Not to mention the loss of tourist gambling revenue. Luckily, the loss of gambling revenue is being offset by the huge increase in funeral home profits".
"....carry her for a mental examination..." Laugh my wazoo off. The use of "carry" is so Alabama...my wife is from Athens (OK, Tanner, she likes to put on airs) and Ive been amused by these expressions for 56 years now.
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