After days in a grease vent atop Chinese restaurant, man ‘very thankful’ for rescue

Cries for help from a shuttered Chinese restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area brought firefighters to the scene Wednesday morning, where they heard someone moaning inside, reported KPIX.

A man told firefighters he’d been trapped in a slippery rooftop grease vent over the stove for two days, reported the Alameda County Fire Department on Instagram. The rescue began at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in San Lorenzo, near Hayward.

Firefighters spent about 30 minutes dismantling the hood and duct system to extricate the man, according to the agency. The grease and smooth walls of the vent had prevented him from climbing back out on his own.

“He was very dirty, very cold,” said Sgt. Ray Kelly, spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, reported The Mercury News. “He was very thankful to see us.”

After a trip to the hospital to be checked, deputies took the man into custody on suspicion of trespassing while they investigate whether he intended to burglarize the restaurant, Alameda County sheriff’s officials wrote on Twitter.

The sheriff’s office has not released the man’s identity, reported KPIX.

“We checked, and he was not Santa Claus,” Kelly said, according to The Mercury News.

This story was originally published December 12, 2018 at 1:30 PM with the headline "After days in a grease vent atop Chinese restaurant, man ‘very thankful’ for rescue."