A toddler suffered only cuts and bruises when he fell 20 feet down a storm drain Sunday evening.
The 1-year-old boy was rescued by an East Point firefighter who was lowered into the storm drain to retrieve the child.
The incident happened about 7:30 p.m. Sunday on Bryant Drive, East Point fire spokeswoman Renita T. Shelton said.
Shelton said that when firefighters arrived, they began breaking the concrete drain cover to lower a ladder into the hole.
"Upon discovery that the ladder and a firefighter would not fit, fire crews swiftly rigged Firefighter Rosa Tullis with a harness and began lowering her into the hole," Shelton said.
The 4 foot, 9 inch Tullis was chosen because her diminutive stature allowed her to fit into the narrow hole.
"Generally, I'm the one that goes down and up and around because I am so tiny," Tullis told Channel 2 Action News.
Once at the bottom of the drain, Tullis "grabbed the child as he reached toward her, and she hoisted the child over her head," Shelton said.
Other firefighters hoisted both Tullis and the toddler, identified by Channel 2 as Darnell Brown, out of the drain to safety.
Shelton said the child had cuts and bruises, and was taken by ambulance to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston for further examination.
Tullis also suffered cuts to her arm, but was otherwise uninjured, Shelton said.
"I have boys, so it's kind of personal and it just makes it all worth coming to work and being dropped down a hole to be able to hand them that baby back," Tullis said.
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