Man Climbing Down Chimney Gets Stuck With a Case of Flue

Carlos Jiron--who is young, slender and lacks a bushy white beard--could never be mistaken for Santa Claus. Nonetheless, he took a Santa-like tumble down the chimney of his Sherman Oaks home Saturday.

And unlike Santa, who accomplishes the task with ease, Jiron got stuck.

Family members had accidentally left their house keys behind and found themselves stranded outside after a morning stroll. Jiron, 24, volunteered to climb on the roof, slide down the chimney and let his family inside.

“It took about 30 minutes to get him out,” said Jim Wells, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman. “We had to make a hole in the chimney to get him.”

Jiron was treated for abdominal scratches but did not require hospitalization.

The incident may have been unnecessary, Jiron learned later. Moments after he slipped down the chimney, family members found an open rear door and got inside without his help, said Jiron’s 13-year-old niece Luz Garcia.

Family members said they summoned authorities after they heard Jiron call for help and saw his feet dangling above the fireplace, not far from the Christmas tree.

“Only my mom was scared,” Garcia said of the incident. “But everyone else was laughing because he was all black with soot.”