Emergency services had to rip out the wall of Richard and Sandy Draper's home in West Valley City, Utah, when they discovered Stephen Hopkins stuck inside.
The youngster, who had been playing with the couple's grandchildren, later told police he was thirsty had been trying to get inside the house to find water.
Asked by Mr Draper how he had got into the chimney, Stephen said he had climbed up a tree in their garden to reach the roof, ABC News reported.
He had managed to wriggle nearly 30ft down the flue, before getting lodged by the basement of the house.
Firefighters were only able to get him out by breaking through a wall in the Draper family's living room.
West Valley City Police Sergeant Michael Powell told ABC: 'He was definitely stuck inside there. Our officers did a fabulous job comforting him ... letting him know everything was going to be okay.'
Mr Draper told the network: 'I'm just glad he went down foot first.
'What's haunting for us is what could have been ... who would look in their chimney for a missing child?'
The Drapers discovered Stephen was trapped between their walls after returning to their West Valley City home from dinner on Friday night - when they heard him yelling for help.
The Drapers told Fox News they thought the yelling was children playing in the backyard when they walked inside at approximately 7:30pm.
But when they found their grandchildren were not making the noise, they listened closer and heard cries for help.
Mrs Draper told Fox4KC.com: 'I could hear a voice in my chimney and I said, "Are you in the chimney?"'
The Drapers called emergency services. 'Through a noble effort of about an hour of cutting our house up...they were able to retrieve the child and overall everything was successful,' Mr Draper told Fox4KC.
Incredibly, the boy was unharmed. 'He was black, just covered in soot but actually looked pretty well,' Mr Draper recalled.
Police said the boy's mother had reported him missing earlier in the day after he left the family home and failed to return.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the boy had been left in the care of his teenage siblings and had been last seen by his family at around 11am.
Mr Draper said: 'They asked him why he had gone down the chimney and he said he was looking for food and water so evidently he was wandering the neighbourhood.'
The boy's family have not issued any statement. Police are not investigating any charges of child neglect.
Story and source: Daily Mail
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