JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Serious safety questions were mounting in Jersey City Wednesday, after a teenager made it into an old pump station and fell through an open well.

As CBS2's Christine Sloan reported, the 16-year-old boy fell 30 feet down the open shaft on Tuesday night. He was bruised with a bloody nose, and was shivering under a blanket, as a Jersey City firefighter led him to an ambulance once he was rescued.

The teen was with two other friends when he fell through plywood covering a pump shaft, dropping the 30 feet before landing in the water at the bottom. The old pump station at the Jersey City Reservoir has been closed for decades, and firefighters said the boy was lucky that there were 10 feet of water in the hole.

"We saw him holding on to a piece of wood that was attached to the four-by-four hole," said Jersey City firefighter Gary Garvin. "He was holding on that, treading water."

Garvin was one of the three firefighters who rescued the teen. Police said they trespassed, going into the locked and boarded-up building that contains 10 shafts.

"Some have wooden grates; like wooden covers. Some metal grates, and a lot of them were open," Garvin said.

The only way to get into the decommissioned pump station is to walk along the water and scale a wall on the other side of the building. But that has not stopped people from doing it.

"Everybody climbs that," said fisherman John Preston of Jersey City. "We have been clamoring for years to put up a fence beyond the wall."

Preston and other fishermen said teens often hang out at the building, and agreed that the current safety situation is unacceptable.

"Put the fence up," said Ray Calogero of Jersey City.

City officials said the teen broke in and could be charged with mischief and trespassing. They are also looking to make it even tougher to get in.

"Very secure -- you can see the windows are boarded; cinder-blocked up, and the door was secure when we arrived last night," said Jersey City fire Chief Robert Daly.

The teen, who was with friends who got help, had been released from the hospital late Wednesday afternoon. CBS2 tried to talk with him, but his mother said he was not interested.

Firefighters said he was trying to get an iPad or iPod that fell into the hole.