Trending Topics

Md. firefighters rip out wall to free alleged burglar wedged in chimney

“I kept hearing some really loud banging noises, some thudding noises,” said Ibrar Khan, who had been enjoying a fire and watching a movie with his family

chimneybetter.jpg

Photo/Pete Piringer, chief spokesperson for Montgomery County (Md.) Fire & Rescue Service

Simone Jasper
The News & Observer

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Firefighters were seen pulling bricks from a house’s wall as they tried to reach a man trapped inside its chimney.

The man apparently didn’t live at the home, Maryland officials said.

He somehow got stuck in the chimney of a house in Silver Spring before crews came to save him, according to Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service.

https://twitter.com/mcfrsPIO/status/1479789658632507393

Ibrar Khan said his family was enjoying a fire and watching a movie inside the house before he heard mysterious rustling sounds early Jan. 8, WRC-TV reported.

“I kept hearing some really loud banging noises, some thudding noises, like something was banging the wall,” Khan told the news outlet.

Video posted to Twitter shows firefighters using their hands to rip open the wall above his fireplace in an attempt to free a man wedged inside. The man later made it to safety, fire department spokesperson Pete Piringer said in a tweet that included footage of an ambulance.

After the ordeal, a hole was left above the fireplace, and a pile of bricks littered the home’s tarp-covered floor, according to photos shared Jan. 8 on Twitter.

Officials said crews helped police respond to the incident, which was reported at Dameron Drive and Forest Glen Road, just outside of Washington, D.C.

Though the fire department said the man wasn’t believed to be a resident of the home, they didn’t say whether he knew the people who lived there. Shiera Goff, a Montgomery County police spokesperson, said the person hoped to burglarize the house, WTOP reported.

Montgomery County Fire & Rescue didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for additional information on Jan. 10.

___

(c)2022 The News & Observer