RAYMORE, Mo. --
The call came out two doors down from their fire station, a description so bizarre the firefighters actually said, "What do you mean he fell into this manhole?"
Within moments the firefighters began a plodding and nerve-wracking guessing game, with no promise of what they'd find.
On Thursday night, the 19-member South Metro fire battalion working last month received a heroism award from Liberty Mutual Insurance and recalled a day they won't soon forget.
"It took us several days to realize what had just happened. Because, yeah, it took hours, but it was just going so fast," Battalion Chief John King, of the South Metro Fire District, said.
"The entire time we're wondering, 'Where is he at and what condition is he going to be in when we get there?'" Capt. Patrick Furlong said.
The fire crew spent two hours, armed with maps of the sewer system, checking one manhole at a time along open land, with only tree lines to guide them to the next entry.
"We had no idea. We knew where he went in, and we knew that the line terminated in Independence," King said.
The firemen traveled a mile and a half, in 300-foot increments, going in and out of each manhole before they finally found the 30-year-old worker who had been pushed that whole way by raw sewage flowing at 3,000 gallons a minute. The man, Daniel Collins, took the sewage into his lungs and scraping along the pipes.
And as much as the firefighters said they were honored by the award, they said the best reward came that day.
"Taking him out of the sewer alive and having the day go so well, everybody performed to the best of their potential, and it had a successful outcome. That, in and of itself, is gratifying," Furlong said.
Collins was released from the hospital on the Nov. 1, and immediately visited the fire station with his wife and three kids to thank them.
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