Girl, 12, is alive after falling 14 stories down a chimney
ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 3, 2008

NEW YORK – A 12-year-old girl fell into a chimney on the roof of her apartment building, plummeted 14 stories and lived to tell the tale after landing in a pile of furnace soot.

Grace Bergere, a young rock drummer, remained hospitalized yesterday with an injured hip.

The 2-foot-deep pile of ash and dust may have saved her life, cushioning her fall when she crashed into a basement furnace, fire officials said.
Authorities said Grace was showing a cousin, visiting from California, the spectacular view of the city from the top of her family's West Village apartment building, which has a rooftop deck overlooking the Hudson River.

To get to the highest point Thursday night, she climbed a 25-foot ladder alongside the big brick chimney. When she reached the top, she fell into the gaping mouth of the chimney and plunged down the narrower flue to the basement.

While her father screamed her name, firefighters opened a metal door at the bottom of the chimney, ready for the worst.

But then Grace's small hand poked out. She was completely covered with soot, with only her eyes and mouth visible.

“I just jumped back,” fire Lt. Simon Ressner said. “I wasn't expecting anybody alive at the bottom of the shaft, so I was shocked.”

“It's a miracle,” said Grace's father, jazz guitarist Steve Berger. “It's an absolute miracle.”