Two people were trapped inside an elevator on the 1600 block of 5th Avenue in downtown Seattle, and firefighters quickly narrowed their response down to the crews needed for a rope rescue. Seattle Fire Dept. said crews believed the best way to reach the pair was through the top hatch of the elevator car.
According to Seattle Fire Dept.
, the department posted an update early Sunday confirming the scaled-back response, writing simply, “Downgrading the response to just the units needed for the rope rescue.” The department's initial alert identified two people trapped in the elevator at that address, and it reported that rescuers had settled on going in through the top hatch as their preferred technique.
What the Department Has Confirmed So Far
The information released by Seattle Fire Dept. so far is limited to the basics: two people trapped, a rope rescue underway, and a hatch-access plan crews considered their best option. The department's post did not specify the building's name, where in the shaft the car became stuck, or what caused the elevator to fail in the first place.
It's also not yet known from the available reporting whether the two trapped occupants have since been freed or whether anyone sustained any injuries during the incident. Those details simply haven't been made public as of the department's latest post.
How Past Seattle Elevator Rescues Have Played Out
Rope rescues inside elevator shafts aren't unheard of in Seattle, though each case has its own circumstances. In one earlier incident, a power outage knocked out a building's elevators and left three people trapped near the sixth floor, according to KIRO 7. In that case, crews rappelled roughly 200 feet down the shaft, secured the occupants in harnesses, and pulled them up one at a time; the station reported no one was hurt.
A separate high-rise elevator rescue involving three people took place on December 12, 2024, when a rescuer rappelled 200 feet down the shaft before the occupants were hoisted to safety, per Elevator World. Another incident, detailed by the Seattle Fire Buff Society, involved two people trapped after their elevator dropped several floors and became stuck near the third floor. And in an April 2026 rescue described by Fire Line, firefighters built a high-directional rope system from the 10th floor, entered the shaft, and individually lifted each occupant through the hatch to safety. None of those earlier incidents are connected to Sunday's response on 5th Avenue, but they illustrate the kind of rope-and-harness technique crews often rely on when an elevator car gets stuck between floors.
For now, the 5th Avenue incident remains an active, limited-scope response, with Seattle Fire Dept. indicating that only the personnel needed for the rope rescue itself remained on scene.
