A teenager was injured after falling 30 feet into a decommissioned building missile silo north of Watkins on New Year’s Day, according to South Metro Fire Rescue officials.
First responders were called to a property in the 4500 block of South Imboden Road around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday after a group of three people — two teens and an adult — were fiddling with the missile silo lid and one of the teens fell. inside, said South Metro spokesman Brian Willie.
The boy’s fall was broken by about four feet of water at the bottom of the silo, and he was able to remain with his head above water while a team of two rescuers used a rope system to reach, stabilize and get him out to get. He was out of the silo by 5 p.m. and taken to the hospital with minor injuries, Willie said.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident as a misdemeanor.
The silo is one of 11 missile complexes built across the Front Range as part of the former Titan complex Atlas rocket programsaccording to the Ministry of Health and Environment.
South Metro has responded to two calls for people falling into missile silos in the past year, Willie said. In one case, an 18-year-old man was seriously injured after falling into a missile silo near Deer Trail in May.
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