14-Year-Old Girl Gets Stuck in Chimney After Locking Herself Out of Family's California Home

The teenager was reportedly locked out of her home and decided to climb through the chimney

girl rescued chimney
Photo: ABC 7

A rescue team took apart a California chimney brick-by-brick on Wednesday to rescue a 14-year-old girl who became trapped inside, reports say.

The teenager, who has not been identified, got locked out of her family’s Inglewood home and decided to climb through the chimney to get inside, a neighbor told ABC affiliate KABC. The girl screamed for help from inside the chimney and neighbors called for help around 3:30 p.m.

About 10 firefighters with Los Angeles County Fire Department climbed onto the two-story home to rescue the girl, KABC reported. They used a rope attached to a fire truck ladder to pull her out of the chimney.

“Pt. was found to have no obvious injuries but was transported to the local area hospital for further evaluation,” fire officials tweeted on Wednesday.

Footage of the harrowing rescue from Fox affiliate KTTV showed neighbors watching closely as the firefighters worked to free the girl. She was conscious and breathing and appeared to be covered in soot as the rescuers checked her on the roof, KTTV reported. She was then strapped onto a rescue stretcher basket.

The teen had been stuck feet-first in the chimney but was found to have no obvious injuries, according to KTLA. The rescue took about 20 minutes, the outlet reported.

The fire department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.

Stories of harrowing rescues have made headlines in recent months. In January, a New York woman was freed after being stuck in an elevator for an entire weekend.

In February, Ryan Osmun was saved after he was stuck in quicksand at Utah’s Zion National Park for 11 hours.

His right leg was sucked into the quicksand while he and a friend were hiking on a remote trail.

“There was no chance of moving it at all. The sand had surrounded the whole leg and I couldn’t move it,” Osmun recalled to CBS News. “The best way to describe it would be … standing in a huge puddle of concrete — that basically dries instantly.”

Osmun spent the night in the freezing cold before rescue crews were able to free him and move him to safety.

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