‘What a stupid situation’ as woman plunges into boulevard hole

Talk about a hole in one.

Christine Keilback was getting home from the movie theatre Saturday night when she suddenly fell shoulders-deep into a hole in the boulevard across the street from her home in Winnipeg’s Wolseley neighbourhood.

Keilback tried to boost herself out but she couldn’t get a foothold because the dirt crumbled away.

The 58 year old, who serves as the executive director at a local non-profit, says she was not injured and immediately found the situation humorous.

“I said (to my friend), you’ve gotta take pictures,” Keilback said on Monday.

“It was kind of funny. I was waving to people. I mean, what a stupid situation to find yourself in.”

One of the friends who dropped her off after the movie called 911, and members of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service’s technical rescue task force arrived soon after.

Using a frame, a winch and a harness, they got Keilback out of the hole about 40 minutes after she fell in.

A city spokesperson said in an email Monday afternoon that the hole appears to be a catchbasin missing the manhole cover.

City employees responded to the scene Saturday night, the spokesperson added, and secured the area using a temporary cover and barricades to ensure public safety.

As a precaution, they checked the opposite side of the road — where a second catchbasin would have been located — and identified a similar condition.

“The area has been secured and permanent repairs will be completed as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

Keilback is glad that city employees identified the second hole.

“I mow the lawn there,” she said. “I mean, it could have happened (again). Wouldn’t that have been something?”

Before Keilback’s rescuers arrived, community members were quick to offer help dealing with the rough patch. One teenager was ready to try pulling her out, and another person offered her a snack.

“I love Wolseley and have such good neighbours,” Keilback said.

“Somebody asked me, what if you’d been by yourself? I said, I have no doubt that if I had yelled out, all my neighbours would have come out. It’s not like I was gonna be stuck there. Somebody would have come for me.”

Once Keilback was back on solid ground, she says, paramedics assessed her and decided she did not need a hospital visit.

Keilback’s friends stayed with her until her husband got home to make sure she was OK.

Keilback wrote about the ordeal on Facebook on Sunday afternoon in a post that has since been shared more than 100 times. In the post, she expressed her gratitude to the WFPS.

“Nobody particularly wants to find themselves in this situation, but it was a chance to experience how brilliant Winnipeg firefighters are … and how they’re all so professional and calm and kind,” she told a reporter.

“In that respect, I got to witness something very, very special.”

—with files from Nicole Buffie

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca