VeggieTales Stories

Boy, 2, caught in heat vent in Vandergrift

By Tribune-Review Media Service Friday, July 7, 2006

Two-year-old Nathan James Laero frequently throws toys down the heating vent in the second-floor bedroom of his Franklin Avenue home.

Thursday morning was the first time he tried to go down after them.

Known as Jimmy by his family, the boy didn’t get far — he got stuck in the narrow duct and had to be rescued by the fire department.

Bridget Laero, Jimmy’s mother, said she had left Jimmy napping while she got a shower but soon heard her son crying for help about 11:30 a.m. She quickly figured out what happened and called 911, woke her husband, also named Nathan, and called her mother, Judy West.

“He’s thrown stuff down there before, but this is definitely the first time he threw himself down there,” Bridget Laero said.

Jimmy barely fit in the narrow space. He slid, feet first, about 6 feet from the vent in his bedroom.

Vandergrift No. 1 Fire Chief Tom Schaeffer said rescue crews had Jimmy hold onto a rope from above while other firefighters worked to open a hole in the ductwork below him on the first floor.

Firefighters and the Laeros were surprised to learn the heating ducts were worked into a brick chimney, which made the rescue more difficult. A jackhammer and other tools were used to break several holes in the drywall, chimney and duct.

“I think we used every rescue tool we had,” Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer said the department recently purchased a confined-space camera and used it for the first time Thursday to determine where Jimmy was stuck.

The child continued to slip farther down the duct while crews were working. He fell about 10 feet total; he was about level with the ground floor when he was rescued.

Schaeffer said the chimney and ducts run all the way to the basement, so Jimmy could have slid even farther.

Bridget Laero said she sang to Jimmy to keep him calm during the hour-long ordeal. “I had to sing the ‘VeggieTales’ theme song about 40,000 times,” Laero said.

Jimmy was not injured other than a few minor scratches.

Seemed unfazed

He seemed unfazed by his adventure an hour later as he ate crackers and watched his mother and grandmother, Judy West, talk to reporters.

Bridget Laero, who is several months pregnant, said she probably was more worked up than her son.

“That’s not an everyday, normal activity of ours,” she said with a smile. “I don’t think it’s really hit me yet.”

In addition to pulling Jimmy from the duct, several of his toys also were recovered — including the squirt gun he went after Thursday morning.

The Laeros temporarily are living on the second floor of a building owned by their parents while their own home is being renovated. Bridget Laero said she was thankful the fire department is right next door to the building, which also houses Internet-service provider HighVision.

“They did a phenomenal job,” said West of the fire department.

Bridget Laero joked that it’s a good thing her own home also is close to the fire department because she suspects this isn’t the last time her family may be calling for help with her son.

“I learned not to leave your smart child unattended during his nap,” she said.