The boy was alert after spending about 25 minutes in the narrow access pipe at a Chester County sanitation property.
WEST GOSHEN, Pa. — Emergency crews rescued a 3-year-old boy who fell into a narrow septic access pipe while playing outside a sanitation business in Chester County, officials said. The child was pulled to safety and taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The incident happened around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Hickman Sanitation Service property on Snyder Avenue in West Goshen Township, according to multiple local reports. Officials said the boy was playing outside with other children when he fell into an access pipe connected to a septic system. Fire officials estimated the opening was about 12 to 14 inches wide and said the child was several feet below ground while crews worked to reach him.
The boy’s brother saw what happened and ran to tell their mother, who called 911, according to fire officials. Police, firefighters and specialized rescue personnel responded to the property. Officials said the boy remained conscious as rescuers worked to bring him back to the surface.
Dave March, a public information officer for the West Chester Fire Department, said the child was about 4 to 5 feet down in the pipe. The boy was able to hold on to a rope or similar object inside the opening while crews prepared to remove him. Reports indicated he was partly in sewage during the ordeal.
The rescue took roughly 20 to 25 minutes, according to officials and local news reports. Emergency personnel eventually were able to physically reach the child and pull him from the opening. He was crying and frightened after being brought out but remained alert and did not appear to have suffered major injuries, fire officials said.
The boy was placed in an ambulance and taken to a local hospital to be checked. Authorities had not publicly identified the child, and detailed information about his medical evaluation was not immediately released. Officials said the child’s family lives on the property, explaining why he had been playing at the sanitation business.
Several agencies took part in the response, including fire, police and county rescue personnel. Lt. Michael Cotter of the West Goshen Police Department described the operation as a coordinated effort in which responders arrived knowing their assigned roles. Officials said crews regularly train for technical rescues in which a person becomes trapped in a confined or difficult-to-reach space.
Some early reports differed on the precise depth of the fall and how the opening should be described. Initial coverage referred to a sewer or septic pipe, while later accounts described it as an access pipe leading toward a septic tank. Reports also differed on whether the child initially fell about a foot before becoming positioned several feet below the surface. Officials consistently reported that crews found him conscious and successfully removed him.
Authorities said the incident was being treated as an accident. It remained unclear how the boy entered the narrow opening or whether the access point had been open or covered before the fall. No serious injury had been reported as of Wednesday, and authorities had not announced any criminal investigation connected to the incident.
Author note: Last updated October 28, 2026.