Teen rescued from abandoned factory in Brooklyn after getting stuck during dare

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Friday, May 26, 2023
Teen rescued from abandoned factory after getting stuck during dare
Police say a dare led to a teen having to be rescued from an abandoned spice factory on Franklin Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. Mike Marza has the story.

PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDENS, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Police say a dare led to a teen needing rescue from an abandoned spice factory in Brooklyn.

It happened around 11 p.m. Thursday night at the factory on Franklin Avenue.

Police say a 15-year-old and his friends were playing when he was dared to go into a small room that was a vault.

When he entered the small room, the door locked behind him -- and he was trapped.

After his friends were unable to get him out, he called his father who then called the police.

Firefighters had to use a saw, torch, a sledgehammer and the jaws of life to make a hole in the wall.

Rescuers were faced with a thick vault door made of at least 1/8 of an inch of steel and four courses of brick.

"We had a small hole we were able to talk to the kid in the vault, he was breathing, he was fine, we had him stand back, we handed him a blanket at some point because we were creating some sparks so we were protecting him with the blanket," said FDNY Battalion Chief Tim Gimpel.

After about 40 minutes, firefighters freed the teen.

Emergency crews checked him out for any injuries and he was released into the custody of his father.

"We don't want them going into to these buildings if they're locked up what was great about this instance kids stuck around and met firefighter sand showed them where this kid was inside," Gimpel said.

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