Marietta firefighter details rescue of woman who crawled into sewer after mental health crisis

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — First responders spent hours on a dramatic rescue operation that involved storm drains Thursday afternoon.

A woman ran out of court in the Cobb County Courthouse after the judge ordered her to go to jail. Cobb County officials say the woman was suffering from a mental health crisis.

When she got outside, she went into a culvert and entered a storm drain system.

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The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, the Cobb County Fire Department, Marietta Fire Department and other agencies worked together.

“When she left the courthouse she ended up across the street over there and she came through the drain to this larger culvert and went from that culvert into this smaller culvert, " said Ty Howard who is a Captain for the Marietta Fire Department. Cobb sheriffs office confirmed she was in there using their K-9.”

The woman crawled into a 24 inch pipe. Michael Austin with the Marietta Fire Department says he was the first firefighter to enter the sewer line.

The fire department used a fan that has an attachment to it to push air into the confined space and make sure fresh air circulated.

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Austin said he had to get out of the sewer line because the woman experienced another mental health crisis while she was inside.

“A large volume of our calls involve some sort of mental illness. Cobb county and the city of Marietta both have what they call CARES units where we encounter people that may need some followup,” said Captain Howard.

Cobb County has a new program that is in partnership with findhelp.org, it will allow people to find mental health and other health related resources faster.

Cobb County is investing a large portion of funding into a mental health programs. A breakdown of the funding can be viewed at this link.

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