Portland woman freed after getting stuck between walls Published January 16, 2013
FoxNews.com
- An unidentified woman breathes a sigh of relief after rescue teams free her from being wedged between walls (Fox 12)
Portland rescue crews were able to free a woman who was wedged between a cinder block wall and another building Wednesday morning, KPTV.com reported.
The unidentified woman, described as an adult, was alert and talking with rescuers and smiled as she was being transported into an ambulance. Crews managed to free the woman after they cut holes into the surrounding wall. She was wedged in about a foot of space and her feet were not touching the ground.
When freed, the woman raised her face, clenched her fists and shouted, "Oh, my God."
Firefighters said they hadn't gotten a clear explanation of how the woman got into the predicament. Lt. Rich Chatman of the Portland fire department said she had been seen smoking or walking on the roof of a two-story building before she fell about 10 to 12 feet.
The woman was wedged about four feet above the ground before rescuers installed braces to support her. Firefighters turned on a portable heater to keep her warm in near-freezing temperatures while they dropped an air bag into the opening to slightly spread the walls.
"She was in good spirits," Chatman said. "We just tried to reassure her ... we weren't going home without her."
After rescuers cut a window-size opening in the concrete wall, Chatman climbed in to help apply the soapy substance. The woman then wiggled toward the hole as the rescue team tugged on her.
"It was so tight, it wasn't until the last foot that she could actually see me," Chatman said. "She had that look in her eye that she was coming out no matter what."
She was taken to the Oregon Health & Science University hospital and appeared to be in good health, fire Lt. Damon Simmons said. Because she's a patient, the department won't release her name unless she gives her consent, he said.
The department's Urban Search and Rescue unit who extricated the woman train for situations such as building collapses and none of the tactics used Wednesday were improvised, Simmons said.
"They're ready for when the big earthquake hits," he said.
The unit in recent years has dealt with people who have fallen into sinkholes. But Wednesday's incident was the first time firefighters had come across someone stuck exactly like the woman was, Simmons said.
"She was just so relieved," Chatman said. "She'd been there for over three hours against two cold slabs of concrete.
"Right before she went out to the ambulance, we were able to get a little hug in there."
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