Stuck on Playing Santa : Firefighters Rescue Santa Ana Boy, 5, After Plunge Down Chimney

Yes, Jo Jo, there is a Santa Claus. But no, you can’t slide down the chimney like he does.

Five-year-old Joseph Hernandez, found that out Thursday morning after he jumped down his grandparents’ chimney--and got stuck.

His mother, 35-year-old Helen Hernandez, said she had brought her three children from their home down the street to stay at their grandparents’ house on Sullivan Street so she could do errands.

But their grandmother was working, their grandfather was out and the door was locked. So Hernandez waited in front and told her brood to go through the side gate to play in the back yard, which has a swing set and playhouse.

That was fine with Jo Jo’s twin, Sandy, and 4-year-old Mike, but not for Jo Jo. He wanted to get inside to play Nintendo computer games. Immediately.

So with his younger brother’s help, Jo Jo stacked a lawn chair on a table against a wall, climbed onto the roof and jumped down the chimney.

“He told me later that he thought he could do it if Santa, who’s round and fat, could do it,” said his grandfather, Steve Silbas.

But Jo Jo became stuck about 10 feet down the chimney, Santa Ana Police Sgt. Dick Faust said.

His mother, still waiting in front, heard his howl.

“He wasn’t even yelling for help,” Hernandez said. “There were no words. He was just screaming. I panicked.”

She could not tell where his cries were coming from until Sandy told her. Hernandez then climbed onto the roof and looked down the chimney, “but it was dark and I couldn’t see anything. I was so scared.”

So she ran next door to call 911.

At about 10 a.m., firefighters lowered a rope down and got Jo Jo out in 10 minutes, said Eric Evans, a spokesman for the Santa Ana Fire Department.

“He was in good shape except for the soot in his eyes, and some scratches on his knees and elbows,” Evans said.

He was taken to Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center with minor scratches and was back at his grandparents’ house in the afternoon.

Watching Jo Jo run outside to show reporters how he had climbed onto the roof, his grandmother, Dolores Silbas, said Jo Jo hadn’t cried when firefighters rescued him.

“He was just afraid of what had happened. But even in the hospital, he was saying he wanted to go home to play Nintendo.”

Jo Jo had managed to fall down the chimney on his grandfather’s 61st birthday, Steve Silbas pointed out.

“What a present,” he said with a smile.

Jo Jo said he still believes in Santa Claus but now realizes there’s a trick to what Santa does.

“He do magic,” Jo Jo said.