A Massachusetts boy had a narrow escape after finding himself stuck in a chimney yesterday afternoon. The boy, 10, was quickly rescued by firefighters in Whitman, with no injuries reported.
The incident took place at a home on Harvard Street. The Whitman Fire Department told WBZ-TV that the curious youngster climbed out of a second story window and then decided to inexplicably slide himself down into the chimney. Photos captured the boy trapped waist-deep before two firefighters managed to safely extract him.
According to NBC Boston, the child was not injured and was soon after reunited with his family. Details on how the boy ended up in such a precarious situation were not immediately clear.
A neighbor, speaking to Boston 25 News, expressed astonishment at the boy's ability to scale the roof and drop into the chimney without hurting himself. "I was like, ‘Oh, dear God. How did that little boy scale that roof and not fall down, because it is a very steep roof?!’" said neighbor Karen Boyd. Another local resident, Janet Happnie, described the unusual scene she witnessed: “It’s not what you see every day. You look out the window, and it’s like, ‘Whoa, there’s a kid in the chimney!’”
Despite the shocked neighborhood reaction, there was a collective sense of relief after the successful rescue. The firefighters were able to carefully maneuver the child out of the chimney, a feat that left locals grateful. “Oh, total relief. It was like, ‘Oh, thank God... Everything went well, nothing happened, nobody slid off the roof, and yeah, it was a relief,” Boyd told Boston 25 News.
While speaking to CBS Boston, the fire department stressed the boy was out quickly and thankfully sustained no injuries. As for the family, they chose not to comment on the day's harrowing events.
