Using a maze of ropes and pulleys, dozens of rescue workers carefully hoisted the girl from the 24-foot-deep crevice by strapping her into a four-point harness. The girl emerged with minor injuries after the delicate and complicated rescue, which lasted from about midnight to 2:10 a.m.
"It was a difficult amount of space and hard to operate in," Bergenfield Fire Chief Robert Beyea said. "This took a great amount of coordination on everyone's part."
Police said the girl might have been sleepwalking when she either slipped while sitting on the ledge of her bedroom window |or somehow tumbled out, causing her to fall two stories and land between her apartment building at 22 South Washington Ave. and an adjoining office building.
Although there was about 2 feet of space between the buildings, a concrete wall blocked the front and rear of the crevice, trapping the girl.
Beyea said firefighters used a ladder to reach her. She was alert and lying on the ground barefoot in her pajamas.
Bergenfield Police Chief Ed Carroll said the girl's parents told police she regularly walks in her sleep. He said that was a likely explanation for why she fell.
"There is no indication of foul play," Carroll said.
The girl was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center.
The girl's rescuers are part of a special operations team made up of firefighters and police officers from Bergenfield, Dumont, Englewood and Tenafly.
