It turns out firefighters are OK after all.
But you wouldn’t have been able to convince little Naya Dutkowski of that on Sunday night, as they pried her new bike apart.
The four-year-old was riding her bicycle when she lost a shoe, and then got her foot wedged between the pedal and the bike frame.
The resulting cries soon brought mom, but Michelle Dutkowski couldn’t free her daughter.
She tried vegetable oil, and a friend helped as they tried to slip Naya free, but her foot was tightly caught.
Naya was screeching by then, and Michelle was worried her ankle might be seriously injured or even broken, so she called for help.
Four firefighters from Hall Two arrived, and confirmed the girl was really stuck.
Naya watched them coming and going with pry bars and other equipment, and didn’t really want their help.
She sat on her bike and cried and screamed.
“No firemen,” she begged.
After a patient hour, the rescuers decided they could free the patient, but the bike was going to have to be sacrificed in order to do that.
They started bending the frame.
Michelle said that was greater trauma for Naya than having her foot stuck.
“She kept saying her bike had gone to heaven.”
Mom was relieved to have her daughter extricated from the bike, and spared from injury.
Michelle was also very thankful to the firefighters.
“They did it, and they did awesome.”
Better yet, they showed up the next day to check on their patient.
And, just to show Naya that firefighters are OK after all, they brought her a new “princess” bike with a matching helmet.
“It was just a wonderful gesture,” said Michelle. “I didn’t know people still did that.”
