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Swallowed by sinkhole in Mount Penn, pedestrian needs ladder to climb out

A Mount Penn man had to be rescued from an 8-foot-deep sinkhole that swallowed him as he cut through the CVS Pharmacy parking lot along Perkiomen Avenue in the borough on his way home late Tuesday, fire officials said.

The man, who is in his 20s, was walking down the grass-covered embankment between the edge of the parking lot and the sidewalk along Howard Boulevard about 11:45 p.m. when the ground opened up, Deputy Chief John Eisenhard of Mount Penn Fire Company said Wednesday.

“When it opened up, he just went straight down,” Eisenhard said. “It was about an 8-foot-deep hole.”

A pedestrian needed to be rescue late Tuesday after he fell straight into a roughly 8-foot-deep sinkhole that opened up as he descended the embankment adjacent to the CVS Pharmacy lot late Tuesday at Howard Boulevard and North 23rd Street in Mount Penn. (STEVEN HENSHAW - READING EAGLE)
A pedestrian was rescued late Tuesday after he fell into a roughly 8-foot-deep sinkhole that opened up as he descended the embankment next to the CVS Pharmacy lot at Howard Boulevard and North 23rd Street in Mount Penn. (STEVEN HENSHAW – READING EAGLE)

The man called 911 because he couldn’t get out. Rescue crews from the Mount Penn and Lower Alsace Township fire companies responded.

As rescues go, this one was easy.

Firefighters lowered a 12-foot ladder into the hole and the man climbed out.

“He was talking to us the whole time, just standing there,” Eisenhard said. “We put a ladder down. He climbed out under his own power. An ambulance checked him out and he wasn’t injured, and he went on his way.”

Eisenhard said he’s been involved in a lot of rescues, but extracting a pedestrian from a sinkhole was a first for him.

Firefighters placed fire line tape around the embankment and covered the opening with a wood pallet. Borough officials were to contact CVS to make sure the sinkhole, which is on the store property, is properly filled.


Source: Berkshire mont

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