Chapel Hill, N.C. — A Chapel Hill fire captain, working off-duty as an instructor for Durham Technical Community College, was hurt Friday when he fell into a hole in the town's fire-training tower during a smoke drill.
Fire Chief Dan Jones said Capt. Darryl Rimmer was checking smoke conditions on a floor above a group of students when he fell into a smoke scuttle hole about 1 p.m.
On-duty Chapel Hill firefighters and Orange County EMS medics got him down from the tower, where several area departments train, in a stretcher basket and took him to UNC Hospitals.
Rimmer's injuries were less serious than first thought, Jones said, but he was being held overnight Friday for observation.
The training tower, a brick and concrete building next to the town's Fire Station No. 4 on Weaver Dairy Road Extension, is designed to give firefighters realistic experience working in fire conditions.
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