Girl Locked in Small Safe Prays to God : Chatsworth: Minister’s daughter is rescued after 20-minute ordeal at Shepherd of the Hills Church.

When she became trapped Monday in a safe not much bigger than a large suitcase, 11-year-old Rochelle Fales fell back on her faith in God and prayed. She was in the right place for it.

“I knew God was going to take care of me,” Fales said as she emerged from a 20-minute ordeal locked in a heavy safe at a Chatsworth church where her father is a minister.

Rochelle, who is 4 feet, 8 inches tall, said she crouched into the three-foot-tall, two-foot-deep safe while playing with her 10-year-old brother, John, in the office of the Shepherd of the Hills Southern Baptist Church on Superior Street.

Then John accidentally bumped the door closed, and the combination dial moved just enough to lock it.

As her parents and church employees frantically tried to track down somebody who knew the combination, Rochelle became sweaty and dizzy, struggling to breathe in the nearly airless box.

“I was scared, but I knew God was going to take care of me,” said the tearful but uninjured girl after she emerged. “If God wanted me to die, he would have let me. So it was really God’s choice.”

John Fales tried to talk to his sister and prayed, then ran to tell his mother, Kim, what had happened.

“I felt a little scared when I first heard my sister say she was starting to feel dizzy,” John said. “I went into another room. I sat down in a chair and started praying that Rochelle came out.”

The Los Angeles Fire Department arrived at the church within minutes of being called and was preparing to break into the safe with special tools when church workers reached an employee by telephone who knew the combination.

A locksmith instructed workers over the phone how to unlock the combination, said Rochelle’s father, the Rev. Richard Fales.

“I was trying to think what you could do--use a sledgehammer?” the minister said. “You feel absolutely helpless if somebody is locked in a safe. What can you do?”

Fales, who was working in another part of the church when his daughter became trapped, said he had no idea anything was wrong until he noticed a large group of people huddled in the office.

As he neared the safe, “I heard my daughter talking,” he said. “She was real quiet. Everybody was talking real quiet to her and telling her to breathe slow.”

Rochelle and John, who both attend Calahan Street Elementary School in Northridge, said they plan to stay away from things like safes and refrigerators in the future. “Nothing that you can get yourself locked into,” Rochelle said, “except a bedroom--as long as it has windows.”