A teenager was rescued by firefighters Wednesday afternoon in Inglewood after she became trapped in a chimney in a two-story apartment complex.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department was dispatched at 3:30 p.m. to the 11000 block of South Crenshaw Boulevard, where they found the girl stuck feet first in the chimney.
Using a ladder truck, firefighters lowered a pair of rescue wristlets down to her, which kept her from falling farther down. The crew removed bricks until they could safely pull the girl out.
In total, the call took 20 minutes. The girl was found to have no obvious injuries but was taken to a hospital for further evaluation.
It wasn’t immediately known how the girl ended up in the chimney.
Brian Stevens, an inspector for the Fire Department, said that chimney extrication incidents are uncommon, but not unheard of.
A 30-year-old woman got stuck in the chimney of a Thousand Oaks home in 2014 when she attempted to enter the home of a man after he broke off their courtship after six dates. She was stuck for about two hours.
In 2013, a 20-year-old man was stuck in a chimney in Koreatown for more than five hours after someone dared him to climb inside while he and his friends were drinking on the roof. The chimney was 18 inches wide.
“A lot of people think it’s plausible to go ahead and get into your house or break into a house” through a chimney, Stevens said. “I can tell you that doesn’t seem to work out for most people. It’s very narrow.”
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