Johnny Jones said he tried to calm himself once the elevator he often rides in his family’s downtown Atlanta high-rise suddenly came to a halt amid near-freezing temperatures this month.
During the season’s first blast of frigid air, the 13-year-old said he wrapped himself in his jacket next to his younger cousin while confined inside the small metal box, but it wasn’t enough to keep warm.
Seconds turned into minutes as the two children, who had taken the elevator down at the Ascent Peachtree complex to grab some food on the evening of Nov. 11, were now trapped in a blind shaft with no floor access — and no way out.
Credit: Natrice Miller
Credit: Natrice Miller
“Well, the first thing that was going through my mind was, I hope we get out sooner than later,” Jones told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday. “And the second thing is, I hope we don’t die in here.”
With the emergency button not working, Jones and his 11-year-old cousin, Malai Moore, managed to find cellphone service in the elevator. He called his mother, Jasmine Thomas, who came down another elevator to the leasing office from their apartment on the 22nd floor, at one point hearing her children screaming for help through the walls.
Thomas said she was “freaking out” and felt powerless to be there for her son and niece, only able to speak to them through the phone.
Luckily, help was on the way.
Responding Atlanta firefighters from Station 11 were alerted about the trapped children and tried to reset the system several times to no avail, Battalion Chief Lem Mullins said Thursday from inside their station. That meant that to reach the kids, crews had to use their last resort: rappelling more than 50 feet down from the 10th floor using the Paratech elevator rescue kit.
It was one of the nearly 2,400 elevator-type calls the department has responded to this year, though ones in blind shafts are rare, Capt. Frederick Newell said. While they frequently train for scenarios that warrant the rescue kit, comprised of ropes and supported by a heavy frame along the elevator shaft opening, firefighter Tyler Ross said he had yet to put it to use in the field. The elevator at the complex essentially goes from the first to the 10th floor without stopping, officials explained.
Credit: Natrice Miller
Credit: Natrice Miller
That night, Ross was the first responder to carefully rappel down the dark and confined shaft, placing his hand and feet on the concrete interior before the two children heard his footsteps on top of the elevator. After the firefighter opened the hatch above them and poked his head in, Jones said he had only one emotion: relief.
“You can tell they’re nervous, but once I started talking to them, you know, explaining everything, they were more relieved that someone was down there with them,” Ross told the AJC.
But the hardest part remained: getting the children out safely.
Ross lowered himself into the elevator and secured the kids into a harness before lifting them into the awaiting arms of Sgt. Chris Moss, who had also rappelled down and was standing on top of the elevator. Moss told them what not to touch so they wouldn’t get entangled and injured during the ascent. The ropes felt tight, but that didn’t matter, Jones said. To ease the kids’ minds, the firefighter told them to place their hands on the walls like Spider-Man, even though the ropes did all the work.
Credit: Natrice Miller
Credit: Natrice Miller
As another firefighter pulled the children up, Jones said he wasn’t too scared but still didn’t look down “to ease my emotions.” The whole operation lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, officials said.
Credit: Natrice Miller
Credit: Natrice Miller
“It was a lot, because I didn’t know how long we were (going to be) stuck in there and if they were going to be able to get us out,” Moore added.
An elevator can get especially cold once it stops working and generating heat. Jones said it was so chilly inside that he couldn’t sleep. After being trapped for roughly three hours, the children reached the 10th floor and hurried into the awaiting arms of Thomas, who quickly wrapped them in a jacket, she said.
Credit: Natrice Miller
Credit: Natrice Miller
In a statement, Ascent Peachtree told the AJC the elevator company inspected the equipment after the rescue and confirmed it was “operating as expected.”
“We’re aware of a brief elevator outage that required assistance from first responders. Thankfully, everyone was safely removed, and no one was injured,” the statement read. “While any interruption is inconvenient, occasional malfunctions can happen with elevator systems. We appreciate the quick response from the Atlanta Fire Department and our service partners. The elevator was quickly back in normal use.”
Credit: Natrice Miller
Credit: Natrice Miller
Nearly two weeks later, the children reunited with their rescuers at the fire station Thursday as they briefly spoke and posed for pictures in front of the engine that went to their building that night. They were also gifted clothes and a department patch that Jones took his time examining.
Thomas said they plan to stay in touch with the station and their rescuers, and likened the operation to watching a movie. She added she would think twice about using elevators at her complex again, but, well, they don’t really have a choice.
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