Jimmy Laero and Vandergrift Firemen

Time could be running out and everyone knew it. Two year old Jimmy Laero had been trapped in the nine by nine inch heat duct for over an hour as the life or death drama unfolded around him.

Around 11:30am that morning, the 911 emergency dispatcher received a call from Jimmy’s mom, Bridget, desperate for help. She stepped out of the shower to the faint sounds of her son whimpering from his bedroom. Poking her head in the door to check on him he was nowhere in sight. Her eyes trailed to the floor heat vent located just inside the doorway to the room. The cover grate of the nine by nine inch vent was lying a foot away. From the dark hole below came the cries of her baby. In an instant she realized what had happened; Jimmy had somehow fallen down into the vent feet first.

Jimmy, along with his younger brother Roman and parents, Nate and Bridget Laero had moved into the large second floor apartment above their family’s business on Franklin Avenue in Vandergrift as a temporary residence while their home was undergoing an extensive renovation. A few days after moving in, little Jimmy had discovered the old floor vent in his bedroom. At the ripe old age of two he was already well known by his relatives for his mechanical abilities. He quickly figured how to pop the vent cover off the floor and had been dropping items from his bedroom into the vent when his mommy caught him and scolded him earlier that week. She never thought much about it after that never imagining that Jimmy could fit himself down that vent, the inside of the vent being no wider than an adult’s hand fully extended. Jimmy was about to prove her wrong.

As mommy climbed into the shower that morning, Jimmy was once again prying the cover from the vent. At some point he dropped his brand new squirt gun down the dark hole. This was his very favorite toy. No one knows what happened next but Jimmy’s dad, Nate Laero, speculates that Jimmy just decided to go after the toy. With mom in the shower thirty minutes and dad, a Vandergrift police officer, sleeping after his work shift, no one really knows how long he was down there before his mom heard his cries.

Hole made to get Jimmy out

First responding to the scene was Vandergrift Police Office Joe Gray. He met Jimmy’s grandfather, Jim Laero, known as “pap-pap” to Jimmy, at the door and was led up the winding steps to the second floor. Jimmy’s mom was leaning over the tiny vent opening with Jimmy’s great-grandfather, Frank Laero, shining a flashlight down the hole. Officer Gray quickly surveyed the scene. Peering down the vent he could see only the top of Jimmy’s head with two little arms locked above his blond hair. Most alarming; Jimmy’s face was crammed against the dirty metal vent wall and hidden under his arms. He was at least five feet down inside the hundred year old vent with no way to reach him from above and no way to get a rope around him. Officer Gray went for his radio and reported the situation. Within seconds dispatch was scrambling Vandergrift Fire Department #1 along with their heavy rescue team and Emergency Medical Technicians.

Minutes later Vandergrift Chief of Police, Joe Caporali, arrived at the scene to find Officer Gray and Jimmy’s family desperately trying to find the location where the heat vent shaft dropped down though the walls of the first floor below where Jimmy was trapped. The building housing what was now HighVision Inc. was once a local mortuary. The mortuary owners had added to the building over the years and HighVision had added a complete renovation in the late 1990’s. All the additions and renovations had significantly changed the thickness and alignment of the walls. In spite of all the banging and pounding everyone was doing, no one could quite fix little Jimmy’s position. The wall needed to come down, and fast. No one knew how much deeper Jimmy could slide down the vent or if he was getting enough oxygen with his face so boxed into the vent wall.

The George G. McMurtry Vandergrift Volunteer Fire Department #1 prides itself in speed of response. Today they would break their record. The building where little Jimmy was trapped is located right next door to the fire hall. In minutes firemen and EMTs poured into the small office just below the room where Jimmy was trapped above. Other responders set up emergency rescue equipment and quickly closed off the street in front of the facility.

Fireman Brian Putignano and EMT Nick Davis arrived at the floor above to check Jimmy’s condition. Mommy was still singing at the edge of the vent and they were very happy to hear Jimmy singing with her. EMT Davis dropped a thin nylon strap for Jimmy to hold onto. An oxygen tube was sent down the hole shortly thereafter. Jimmy grabbed the strap as best he could and held on while singing another round of VeggieTales with his mom.

Looking down the duct

In the office below the search for the vent shaft was getting nowhere. With precious minutes ticking away the decision was made to take out the walls. With the location of the vent above fixed, the fire crew began demolition of the adjacent plaster walls. Thick plaster dust filled the 12’ x 12’ room choking the fire personnel. Chiseling had to be stopped until dust masks could be put on. With the masks on and another ten minutes of chipping the plaster fell away. But when the wall was opened there was no shaft, only empty stud walls and a brick chimney. It seemed a simple enough task for everyone who was searching for Jimmy. The shaft should have been there. Did everyone misjudge the location of the vent above? Once again fire personnel and family members ran up and down the steps between the two floors and the basement below measuring walls and floors trying to re-fix the vent shaft location. A high tech heat-sensing camera was even used but perplexingly with no results. If Jimmy was in the wall the camera should have picked up his body heat. The process continued with growing tension but every measurement led right back to the wall that was already opened. Everyone stopped for just a moment. A dead calm swept the room as the unimaginable suddenly flashed into everyone’s mind and echoed the chilling words that dust covered EMT Rick Heidelmier spoke next, “They dropped the heat duct down through the old chimney!”

Things just went from scary to desperate. It was going to be hard enough cutting Jimmy out of a galvanized steel heat duct behind re-enforced plaster walls. Now it was clear that a rock-solid red brick chimney had to somehow be chipped away without collapsing the vent inside.

Jimmy’s grandfather had to break the news to the family. Jimmy’s maternal grandmother, Judy West, was waiting breathlessly on the front porch along with Jimmy’s Uncle, Brandon West. Grandma Judy threw her hands to her face and wept when she heard the news. There on the front porch, there was nothing left for the family to do now but pray and let the real heroes do their work. And so they did. Holding tightly to each other they asked the Lord to preserve little Jimmy’s life, to keep his mind during the ordeal he was about to face and to bless the firemen, police and EMTs who were so passionately trying to free him.

A crowd was beginning to gather and the media was not far behind. News helicopters circled above as the firemen, police and EMTs leapt into action. After much chiseling the west face of the chimney wall was breached. There was the exterior of the metal heat duct just as they had suspected. Much to everyone’s dismay they also found that two heavy supply pipes for the upper floors had been installed adjacent to the chimney’s west wall. There was no way to get Jimmy out that side! They would need to start the process again on the north side! Desperate to locate Jimmy the firemen decided to go ahead and breach the metal duct just enough to get the department’s new Confined Space Camera up inside the hole. The camera had been recently purchased with funds donated by the Alle-Kiski Health Foundation and the borough of Vandergrift. This was the first time it was needed. With increasing necessity firemen Mike Fairman carefully cut a five by five inch opening. Fireman Ron Shaffer carefully slid the department’s new Confined Space Camera up inside the hole with a light. But they were confused at what they were seeing. Jimmy was nowhere to be found. All they could make out was a cloth object easily within their reach. A careful tug brought down one of Jimmy’s blankets along with an assortment of small toys, and, one squirt gun. The blanket and toys dropped below into the shaft. Another look up the shaft and there were Jimmy’s bare feet one dangling and the other wedged sideways holding him up. At just that moment upstairs Jimmy told his mommy and dad now at the vent shaft that he was scared because something moved down below. “It’s ok Jimmy,” comforted mom, “The firemen are coming to get you out.” Jimmy quieted again.

Jimmy getting firefighter trading cards from Randy Dunmire

Suddenly Jimmy began to slip. Work in the room below came to a halt as cries on the fireman radios warned them that Jimmy was falling further down the shaft. Fireman Mike Fairman, kneeling next to the dangerously jagged metal duct hole he had just cut, shoved an arm up into the shaft just in time to feel Jimmy’s foot sliding by. Grabbing the foot he was able to stop the slide. Upstairs Jimmy cried out for mom again, “Sumpin touched my feets mom!” “It’s ok honey,” replied mom, “It’s just the fireman.” Amazingly, Jimmy quieted again. He had been a real trooper all day. Nearly an hour had passed now since the demolition began. Through all the banging and sawing he just kept singing with his mom. Dad was not so calm. Half frustrated by not being able to do anything but wait while others saved his son and half frightened for his baby boy’s well-being he spent much of the ordeal moving between the vent shaft opening and the adjacent rooms quietly praying.

With Jimmy’s feet now held by firemen below the second wall of the chimney was now being attacked furiously by the dust covered sweat drenched fire crew. The century old brick and mortar, hard as the day it was installed, yielded only an inch at a time. Finally enough was chipped away to begin cutting a hole in the metal duct big enough to slide Jimmy out. This was the tricky part. Jimmy had slid nearly ten feet down the shaft by the time the chimney section was chiseled away. He was now directly on the other side of the metal wall the firemen had to cut open. A saw was now out of the question. The only option left was to hand snip a hole inch by meticulous inch with a small pair of metal cutting scissors. The cutting began with great care. Every few cuts they had to check to see of Jimmy was still clear of the scissor blades.

Upstairs mommy was still at the vent opening, along with EMT Christine Negley, singing VeggieTales for in her own words, “The umpteenth-millionth time.” Downstairs fireman Mike Fairman held onto Jimmy’s foot. Every once in awhile, when Jimmy would not move for a minute or two, Mike would tickle his foot a bit to check on him.

When the metal hole was large enough to slide Jimmy out the firemen quickly lined the jagged edges with duct tape. Reaching gently into the hole they were finally able to slide Jimmy down the last couple feet and carefully out the opening. A great cheer went up in the room that seemed to sweep out the door to the front porch and then out into the street where the crowd had gathered. Two-year-old Jimmy popped out, rubbed his ear and said a delightful, “Hello,” to his rescuers. Everyone laughed.

Out on the porch the grandparents and uncle breathed a quiet thank you to the Lord and shook the hand of every firefighter, EMT and police officer that had come to Jimmy’s rescue. Jimmy’s heroes one and all.

Within the hour the floor vent cover was bolted into the floor. In the end everyone but little Jimmy seemed exhausted and spent. Jimmy just fluttered about singing, what else but; VeggieTales. Jimmy’s story was featured on every local news station that evening and made it to the national Good Morning America Show the next day. Somewhere along the way the owners of the VeggieTales company got wind of it and one day a week later, just before Jimmy and his parents were to leave on a long drive to Florida for vacation, a little box arrived with Jimmy’s name on it. Inside was an entire collection of VeggieTales songs and DVDs. Jimmy, mom and dad sang VeggieTales all the way.