(16 Jan 2013) SHOTLIST
++DAWN SHOTS++
1. Wide of emergency vehicles at scene
2. Wide of firefighters looking through hole in wall
3. Mid of woman stuck in wall slowly getting out, smiling (UPSOUND) "Oh, my God."
4. Wide of woman being carried away on a stretcher
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Lieutenant Rich Chatman, Portland Fire and Rescue:
"Basically when we got here, the first decision was to figure out if we were going to take her out the top or if we were going to cut through the wall."
6. Close of hole cut in wall
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Lt. Rich Chatman, Portland Fire and Rescue:
"Once we decided that this side was the best one for her to come out, I poked my head up there to just see how she was standing, if it was going to be possible for her to come out with the size of the hole we had. It wasn't, so we just made that hole bigger."
8. Wide of ambulance at scene
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Lt. Rich Chatman, Portland Fire and Rescue:
"It was so tight that it really wasn't until about the last foot or so that I could really get a visual, or she could actually see me. And she had that look in her eye like she was coming out no matter what."
10. Wide of emergency vehicles on scene.
STORYLINE:
US firefighters cut through concrete and used a soapy lubricant to free a woman who fell and became stuck in a narrow opening
between two buildings in Portland on Wednesday.
The woman spent about four hours in a space 8 to 10 inches (20 - 25 centimetres) wide.
After she emerged she raised her head, clenched her fists and shouted, "Oh, my God."
Portland firefighters said they hadn't had a clear explanation of how the woman got into the predicament but Lieutenant Rich Chatman of Portland Fire and Rescue said she had been seen smoking or walking on the roof of a two-storey building before she fell.
The woman was wedged about four feet (1.2 metres) above the ground before rescuers installed braces to support her.
Firefighters turned on a portable heater to keep her warm in near-freezing temperatures while they dropped an air bag into the opening to slightly spread the walls.
Rescuers then cut holes in different parts of the brick to try to figure out how best to free her.
After rescuers cut a window-size opening in the concrete wall, Chatman climbed in to help apply the soapy substance.
The woman then wiggled toward the hole as the rescue team tugged on her.
"It was so tight that it really wasn't until about the last foot or so that I could really get a visual, or she could actually see me," Chatman said.
"And she had that look in her eye like she was coming out no matter what," he added.
She was taken to the Oregon Health and Science University hospital and appeared to be in good health.
Her name was not released.
The Urban Search and Rescue unit which extricated the woman, train for situations such as building collapses.
The fire department said none of the tactics used Wednesday was improvised.
The unit in recent years has dealt with people who have fallen into sinkholes.
But Wednesday's incident was the first time these firefighters had been faced with a situation like this.
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