A Naples, Florida man should have taken some pointers from the big man in red before using a chimney as his method of entry. A 25-year-old man was trapped in the chimney of a Naples home on Neapolitan Way while apparently trying to break inside.

It took 11 firefighters nearly two hours to extract him from the 18-foot chimney after a passerby called 911 to say that they heard someone calling for help. Officials believe that the caller might have been an accomplice–possibly an elf. The firefighters responded to the scene around 2 a.m. when they had to force entry into the empty home. Dangling out of the fireplace was a dirty foot, as the galoshes had presumably fallen off.

Using a harness to pull him through the top of chimney, the man was covered in soot and complained of back and leg pain.

“It took us 30 minutes of slowly applying pressure on the rope and pulling him out gingerly through that 15 to 18 foot space which obviously seemed like forever,” said an official.

The ambitious man was taken to NCH and later to jail. His name was not immediately released, but many would argue it is Kris Cringle.

Read the full story here.