OKLAHOMA CITY – It was a very unusual rescue for the Oklahoma City fire department; the first of its kind, in fact.

“We received a call from a lady that was actually stuck in a donation bin,” OKC Fire Chief Brian Stanaland said.

The woman told the fire dispatcher that she had dropped off several bags of clothes at the Positive Tomorrows donation box at 3938 S.E. 44th St. Saturday evening.

When she got home, she realized she was missing a sentimental tennis bracelet that belonged to her deceased mother.

She said she searched her home and car and finally concluded it had to be in the donation box.

So she went back to the box at daybreak Sunday.

“I came down here and was kind of was looking around, looking around, looking around and I got inside it,” she told the fire dispatcher. “And I have M.S. so it doesn’t take much before I start really cramping up and hurting, you know, and I can’t get out.”

“I kind of presume that she got a little dehydrated,” Chief Stanaland said. “Apparently she was in there about two hours this morning and even in the morning light hours, it would still be very hot. It was a metal bin.”

The woman told firefighters she stood on a table to hoist herself inside the bin and even said that someone dropped off a donation while she was trapped inside. 

“This lady stopped a while ago and I said ‘excuse me, can you help me,’ and I guess I scared her so bad she sped off because she was putting something in here,” the woman told the dispatcher.

“I bet you did scare her,” the dispatcher replied.

Fire officials said they are aware of people climbing inside donation bins before, sometimes to steal items and even transients seeking shelter, but that they always been able to get themselves out.

They said it’s never a good idea, no matter the reason.

“Never climb inside of one of these bins; it’s very dangerous,” Chief Stanaland said.

EMSA paramedics checked out the woman at the scene but she did not need to be transported to the hospital.

Unfortunately, she did not find her bracelet.