FDNY rescues teenager stuck inside Brooklyn vault
NEW YORK -- Firefighters rescued a child from a vault inside an abandoned building in Brooklyn late Thursday night.
It happened in an abandoned spice factory building in Crown Heights.
Firefighters had to use a saw, torch and sledgehammer to breach a wall and remove the child, who, CBS2 was told, is between 12 and 15 years old.
"We got a call about a child stuck in a vault, locked inside a vault at 960 Franklin Ave.," FDNY Battalion Chief Tim Gimbel said.
A friend of the teen who was also there pointed firefighters in the right direction. They then began a 40-minute rescue mission by cutting their way through the door and the side of the vault. The FDNY says he was responsive throughout and unharmed, despite the dangers of a seemingly abandoned building.
"A vacant building like this, there's always dangers inside. Children should not be playing inside these buildings," Gimbel said.
"I've been in this neighborhood for like 30 years. I've never seen somebody ever walk in that building. So that just blows my mind. O wonder if they have parties and stuff in there," one local resident said.
"Kids are adventurous. That's what they do," another said.
The teenagers had to say how they broke in, which they did by going underneath a fence in the rear of the building, in order for the firefighters to come to the rescue.
