OR Crews Free Man from Garage Gap

Nov. 22 -- A man who got himself stuck in an estimated 12-inch space between a downtown Portland building and a parking garage was rescued by firefighters Wednesday and taken to a hospital.

The man, who hasn't yet been identified, wasn't seriously injured and spent at least an hour trapped between the commercial office building and a Star Park garage near Southwest 6th Avenue and Alder Street. Firefighters weren't able to get a clear explanation from the man on how or why he was between the structures before he was taken to the hospital, according to Lt. Rich Chatman, a Portland Fire & Rescue spokesman.

Several people in the area called 911 around 5:10 p.m. and reported hearing a man screaming, Chatman said. Police officers arrived, couldn't determine where the screams were coming from and called the fire department.

Emergency responders at some point were able to determine the yelling was coming from the man stuck between the two structures.

Firefighters suspect the man may have gone out a window on the fourth floor of the office building and slid down one story, where he was found wedged, Chatman said. Firefighters used an office bathroom window to get onto a ledge to access the space below where the man was trapped, but Chatman said it's not immediately clear if the man used the same access point 

"He was in a very precarious position," Chatman said. "Had he moved the wrong direction, he easily would have fallen another 30 feet."

One firefighter was lowered down to the man and placed a harness made of webbing and rope onto him. Then the stuck man was slowly pulled up, Chatman said. Firefighters pulled him up to the ledge around 6:40 p.m.

Portland firefighters rescued another person trapped between two downtown structures in 2013, when a woman fell in an 8-inch space between the Gretchen Kafoury Commons apartments and the New Avenues for Youth building. She was stuck for nearly four hours until authorities were able to free her.

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