Firefighters rescued a woman stuck in the chimney of a Los Angeles school Saturday, fire officials said.
The rescue took place just after 6 p.m. at the three-story Virgil Middle School at 152 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart.
Aerial footage taken by NewsChopper4 showed members of an urban search and rescue team placing a “capture strap” around the soot-covered woman and lifting her to safety.
She was then placed on a stretcher and taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
It was unclear how the woman, in her 30s, got stuck 25 feet down the chimney shaft. The incident may be connected to a report of a woman threatening to jump from a roof earlier in the day, fire officials said.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
