San Francisco Man Stuck in Chimney, 8 Days Before Christmas

Fire crews had to bust bricks out of the chimney to extract the man

About a week shy of Christmas, San Francisco firefighters were called to rescue a man who got stuck in his chimney just before midnight Monday in his Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Fire crews were called to the man's apartment on Clay Street about 11:30 p.m., where they found the man inside the chimney. It took about an hour to pull him out.

It's unclear exactly why he went inside the chimney - even though this is typically the season for that sort of thing. NBC Bay Area spoke to a dispatcher who said that police may have been trying to contact the man, and that he may have tried to hide in the chimney.

Firefighters said that crews had to break out their special equipment and bust out some chimney bricks to get the man out.

The man was taken to the hospital where his vital signs were good.

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