Firefighters Chris Hiteshew, Jesse Bosley, Sam Fain, Gregg Alonzo and Mike King from Navy Region Northwest Fire & Emergency Services were recognized Monday by the Naval Installations Command for saving the life of an Oak Harbor man who fell down an abandoned well.

The men were on duty in November when the call came. The Oak Harbor Fire Department was on scene first and firefighter Chris Hiteshew said he didn’t quite believe what he was hearing on the drive over.

“They were saying the well was 80 feet deep,” he said. “I thought they must have said  eight feet.”

The federal firefighters arrived just a few minutes after the Oak Harbor Fire Department, whom they train and work with frequently.

Hiteshew took a look down the well and realized the well, indeed, was far deeper than a few feet.

The man, who lives on Southwest Rockrose Drive, noticed a depression in his front yard and decided to investigate. He lives in a newer development across the street from Fort Nugent Park — a typical suburban neighborhood with neat, green lawns.

There was no record that a well existed on the property.

As he dug into the ground with a shovel, the ground collapsed and he fell “rear over tea-kettle” into the hole, said chief Sean Merrill.

The man hit a pipe running across the opening, which knocked him upright and he ended up falling about 40 feet before getting wedged partway down the shaft.

The man, who declined to talk about the incident in public, had his cell phone but had no reception. He screamed for help for more than two hours before two teenage neighbors saw his wheelbarrow and decided to wander over.

Merrill said even they couldn’t hear him screaming from the top of the well. The man flashed his cell phone at them and they could see the light.

They called 911.

“He was scared out of his mind but he landed on his feet,” Merrill said.

The two departments train weekly together and they were prepared to quickly set up a belay and pulley system to get the man out.

Within about 20 minutes of arriving, the firefighters were able to pull the man out of the hole. He was banged and bruised but not seriously injured.

The fire chiefs from both departments paid him and his wife a visit a few days later. The man’s wife pulled them inside.

“He was in tears,” Merrill said. “He couldn’t say ‘thank you’ enough.”

The chief said all of his firefighters approached him in advance of receiving the award, a bit embarrassed for the recognition for “just doing their jobs.”

“What you did for that man was amazing,” Merrill told the men.

The award comes from the Naval Installations Command in Norfolk, Va., and it’s intended to recognize personnel who are involved in incidents that make the difference between life and death.