Firefighters take on ‘delicate process’ to remove child’s finger from toy

In a process that took two hours, firefighters were able to remove a child’s finger from a toy after a teacher brought her over to the station across the street.

The incident happened on May 1 around 11:40 a.m. Firefighters met a teacher at Station 52, across the street from Covent Glen Catholic Elementary School in Ottawa’s east end. The teacher told officials that the child’s finger became stuck inside a toy shovel.

Crews used side cutters to carefully chip away at the plastic toy. The process was lengthy because the hole in the shovel’s handle was a tight fit for the finger, and the child was nervous, the release reads.

“Smarties proved to be the perfect motivation, with a small reward offered after each piece was chipped away,” officials said.

By 1:24 p.m., the child’s finger was removed and uninjured.

“Our crews are proud to be there when the community needs them, for emergencies big or small,” the press release reads.