SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The Syracuse Fire Department called off a search on Wednesday afternoon, March 15, a few hours after witnesses reported seeing a person enter a manhole.

SFD units were dispatched to the area of Kirkpatrick Street at North Alvord Street on the City’s North Side around 3:02 p.m.

SFD firefighters from Station 2 (Lodi St.) arrived quickly and began their search, while Syracuse Fire’s Rescue Company arrived shortly after and set up a tripod to support a rope system to explore inside the manhole.

firefighter being lowered into manhole Syracuse Fire Department investigate report of person in sewer
preparing high point set up Syracuse Fire Department investigate report of person in sewer

According to SFD, any time a confined space entry is made, air quality monitoring in the space is vitally important.

That’s why the Syracuse Fire Department Hazardous Materials Company (HazMat) then responded to the scene to perform air monitoring while firefighters searched.

One of the firefighters was lowered into the manhole and confirmed that no one was in the immediate vicinity of the entry to the hole and they retrieved to the surface.

Shortly after, SFD made the decision to bring in members of Syracuse’s DPW to help with the search.

The pipes that were accessed from the manhole were reported to be 18” in diameter and after a thorough search inside the manhole pipes going in both directions, no one was found.