A 63-year-old man was in stable condition after falling 40 feet down a lava tube on his vacant lot in Pahoa on Wednesday afternoon, Big Island firefighters said.

Firefighters said the man was with his son and was surveying the property, which he recently purchased, when he fell into the 3-foot in diameter tube at 12:06 p.m. Because of the size of the tube, the man apparently went down slowly. The incident happened near Kahukai and Moku streets.

Firefighters used a rope and pulley system to lower a firefighter into the hole and retrieve the man in the basket.