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Connecticut Firefighters Free 40-Year-Old Trapped in Elementary School Tube Slide

Firefighters used cutting tools with rope stabilization to free the unidentified adult in about 30 minutes.

Vernon firefighters help to release a trapped 40-year-old man from a tube slide, in Vernon, Conn., on Aug. 16, 2025.
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Overview

  • Responders arrived just after 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 16 at Northeast Elementary School in Vernon and found the man wedged in the middle of an enclosed slide.
  • Vernon Emergency Services administered oxygen and set up ventilation because the confined plastic tube was hot and the man was in extreme discomfort.
  • Firefighters attached ropes to an aerial ladder to stabilize the structure and used extrication tools to remove a section of the slide.
  • The man was freed in roughly 30 minutes, evaluated at the scene, and declined transport to a hospital.
  • The operation left the playground equipment damaged ahead of school reopening, and officials have not identified the man or explained how he entered the slide.