``I wasn't Santa Claus,'' said Rance Hill, who spent 1 1/2 hours in the chimney Tuesday.
The Antelope Valley boy said he was trying to help a friend when he shimmied down the chimney at about 4:30 p.m. and got stuck feet-first. His friend was unable to pull him free and called Los Angeles County firefighters.
They tried to get him out from below and even knocked a hole in the chimney at a point where it narrowed to about 8 inches but that didn't work, fire Inspector Mike McCormick said.
``My foot was stuck,'' Hill said.
Finally, they were able to haul up the sooty youngster with a rope.
It felt ``like I was flying, just going up real fast,'' he said.
He also had some advice to other kids.
``Never go down a chimney or do something crazy like that,'' he said. ``Not even for a thousand dollars.''
