Hackettstown trench higher rez

A 3-year-old girl was rescued Monday evening after she became trapped at the bottom of this old septic hole in Hackettstown, police say.

(Photos Courtesy the Hackettstown Police Department)

The area where a child fell into a hole on Monday behind a Hackettstown house has been secured.

UPDATE: 'I just jumped right in there,' says Hackettstown nanny who rescues child in 15-foot-deep hole

With the help of emergency workers, a 26-year-old woman rescued a 3-year-old girl who was trapped Monday evening at the bottom of a 15-foot hole in Hackettstown, police said.

The child was in the backyard of a West Valley View Avenue home when she stepped on grass covering the old septic hole and it collapsed, sending her plummeting to the bottom, town police Sgt. Darren Tynan said today.

A woman who was at the house heard screams and found the trapped child, police said.

A town officer responded about 5:25 p.m. and found the woman half-way down the hole attempting to rescue the child, according to Tynan. The officer, who couldn't fit in the roughly 1-foot-wide space, used his arms to lower the woman the rest of the way down while keeping her and the child calm by talking to them until the Hackettstown Fire Department and Hackettstown Rescue Squad arrived, police said.

Tynan said there was some water at the bottom of the hole but it wasn't clear how deep it was.

When firefighters arrived, they lowered a ladder into the hole and the woman climbed to safety with the child in her arms, police said. It wasn't immediately clear the woman's relationship, if any, to the child and police have not released her name.

The toddler was taken to the Hackettstown Regional Medical Center for an evaluation but it was unclear what, if any, injuries she suffered. The woman who rescued her was not injured, police said.

Assisting at the scene were the St. Clare's Medic Unit, the Hackettstown Department of Public Works, the town's Office Of Emergency Management and the town building inspector.