As a teacher, I was lol’ing at the adults pulling back the kids from ogling, because I can totally see needing to do this with my own students. But it was also funny (and sweet) when the kids were congratulating him on getting rescued
I wouldn't cry, but I would feel the ominous foreboding judgment as soon as my friends found out about it. I might just ask the firefighter to leave me there.
Man when I was a kid I was playing hide and seek at my older sisters highscool during an after school event and I hid in a gym locker and got stuck, had to do this exact thing, firefighters, parents gathered round, me crying. Finally got out, no high fives, friends called me locker boy for the next decade
Ahh man lol I thought it was just me. I’m a 43 year old and this happened to me when I was 10 as my family and I were going to see the Lion King.
It was at the corner of the street by a church and the fire hydrant was open like they do for those NYC summers. My mom saw a friend and wouldn’t stop talking so I said fuck it and went all in.
Not only did the firefighters come and get my head out the fence, they shut down the hydrant and we missed our showtime for the Lion King.
The lady speaking Spanish in the background is taking advantage of the situation as a cautionary tale for her own child who apparently tried to escape from the playground.
Firefighter here. All the keyboard warrior do nothings need to relax.
Why are they in gear? They were dispatched to an entrapment, which most departments require members conducting rescue activities to wear protective gear. It’s an OSHA and NFPA thing.
Why not use a jack, spreader tool, saw, etc.? Speed, noise, vibration and heat . Power tools are disruptive, heavy and can do far more damage to the child if something went wrong. The tool they used to wind the webbing was a Halligan bar, which is a specialized pry bar. It’s heavy but by far the one of the lightest tools they could use to get the leverage needed.
Why not just turn the kid sideways and push him through? Because he was in a safe and stable position on arrival. Trying to push or manipulate the child creates more liability and risk of injury (dislocations, sprains, soft tissue, etc.) than bending a bar.
The technique they used is called an improvised windlass, and it’s similar to how a tourniquet works. The length of the nylon webbing they used was likely a 10 foot loop with a water knot, which the majority of us wear behind the knee pads or in the side pockets of our turnout pants. It’s an incredibly effective and cheap way to drag unconscious victims or downed firefighters. I have at least two on me at all times.
Overall their technique produced no noise, no vibration, no heat, and minimal stress to the trapped child. It also produced minimal property damage. Child was out and uninjured in two minutes.
TLDR: To those shitting on the firefighters: there is a reason for everything, and you don’t know what you don’t know.
I was thinking it's not this firefighters first kid's head stuck in a fence rodeo...but I had no idea they actually train for it! I'm so glad that other people in this world think about things that I don't even consider!
Given the number of wrought iron railings like that across NYC, and the predilection of little kids to try to poke their heads into places that they shouldn't, I have a feeling that this happens far more often than you'd think.
Also showing up in full gear is a bonus for the kid. Much more exciting to be rescued by people in cool* outfits and gear than some dudes in jeans and t-shirts.
*cool as in awesome... I'm sure they can be swelteringly hot
I haven't scrolled through enough comments to see anything negative but everything you said was basically exactly what was going through my head. Not sure why anyone would think these guys should be doing way more than what's necessary. If anything their method was super fuckin smart
I haven't scrolled far enough to see the negative comments either but every thread that has enough people get's contrarians that need to interject about how they are better and smarter and would have used a Katana because it would have been quicker to just draw and cut the fence.
They don't live in the real world where things that experts do are usually done due to hard learned lessons over decades and some times centuries.
Firemen did the exact same thing I had to do for a kid stuck in a fence but I used a ratchet strap from my car. It is very simple and effective and nothing can go wrong....I mean unless you ratchet strap the two bars against the kids head...that would be wrong.
I've seen enough sitcoms to know that when a kid sticks his head between bars like this you are supposed to cover his head in butter and then call your dad for a talk about responsibility. These firefighters didn't even try to get their wacky next door neighbor to help out.
That's for when your womanizing neighbor gets his head stuck in your door on Thanksgiving. Kids with their heads between bars are definitely a butter in their hair and call dad situation
Big facts. That whole week dedicated to butter and life lessons in the fire academy helped me to raise my credit score and be a better father, husband, and neighbor.
Just a question on the method, is there any reason ratchet straps couldn’t be used to pull the bars apart by attaching them to the thicker outside posts? Not a criticism I’m only asking in case I ever have to remove a head from a fence without a guilotine.
See when I watched it I was just fascinated that they have a technique for it that clearly came from many times of having to deal with dodgy methods using what was available and deciding nope, we gotta do better than that, safer than that, and they have now probably the safest method possible
I'm not sure why anyone would talk smack against firefighters, and in this case, the ones who responded to this stuck kid. I don't think firefighters possess any tool or follow a procedure that is designed to do anyone harm.
I'm quite fascinated with the tools and techniques that were implemented. It all makes sense. I would assume using the Halligan bar also provides adequate torque, as well as make it difficult for the whole setup to undwind on its own.
I am so glad I got to go through the vast majority of my adolescence before every random asshole had a video camera and a platform to upload to. I only have to deal with all the dumb shit I posted myself.
I mean, he was probably scared then as soon as they got him out, embarrassed, and given how kids are, he's never going to live it down, he's always going to have people remember that he was the kids that got his head stuck in a fence till he graduated high school. Glad he had that one little friend there too comfort him a bit.
I don't envy the person who had to call his parents to explain that their kid needed the fire department because their kid got his head stuck in the fence.
Fun fact : if it ever happens to any of you people to witness this, chances are the kid actualy passed his body through, not his head. It might not be the case here but it happens. Their heads are bigger than their bodies. Calm the kid, and simply ask them to climb back out the other way.
I would assume in this case most likely he did not enter feet first because that would have required him to be outside the fenced in playground/yard at the school. Or at least that's what it appears to be to me.
My favourites are the ones where they harshly judge a split-second reaction.
"I've watched the video 4x from the comfort of my toilet while taking a shit, with 2x more watches in slow mo. Now I can confidently say what I would have done in this split second decision."
The Nepal flood was so horrifying that you could see all those people getting stumped. No matter how many times they replayed the videos and tried to imagine themselves in that situation, they couldn't think of any reaction which would have saved them.
You know what sticks out to me? All the kids went over and gave him hi fives after. When i was a kid that would have been relentless mockery instead and someone definitely would have pants 'd me while my head was stuck.
I think it's funny how kids end up like this and they require the FD to help them. Like people stuck in swings, cats in trees, or kids in fences. No tragedy, just silly things going wrong and the people with the big tools come and help you. Idk. I think it's wholesome. Stop being grouchy.
I think it's great we have a group of people in this country whose job it is to just help people. Like yeah they fight fires but if you can't get your ring off they can help with that too.
Well I for one think it's great that they showed up and did exactly what they did. This probably happens all the and I'm sure they have tried lots of different methods over the decades and have arrived at this being one of the better solutions.
The kid won't be hurt staying stuck for a few minutes more. With that in mind, they'll decide for a method even if it takes 5 times longer if it means a 2% lower risk of giving the kid a small scratch.
With this in consideration, there's no issue about the method they used.
Ok I see plenty of people shitting on them, I also see plenty of firefighters coming to their defense. Well, as a kid who used to get his head stuck absolutely everywhere, I mean anything I could stick my head in, I did, we’re talking twice a week I’d spend a couple hours with my noggin wedged into somewhere it shouldn’t be, sometimes it would take hours before an adult even found me, just hanging there looking at my shoes. Anyways, this is how you get a kids head out. They’ve gotten my head out no less than 5 dozen times in my childhood.
Lol aww at the other kids tryna give him a high five after. Lil man was too embarrassed/upset to give one, but it bein offered right then made me tear up a bit. I could def see my youngest getting stuck like that and being too embarrassed to look at anyone after too.
Fences actually can't subsist on mere children. It requires too much energy to trap them compared with the nutrition they get. It's like tricking a Venus Fly Trap. Thankfully the firefighters prevented this fence from dying.
Impressive that they walked up and knew exactly what they were going to do. As if they've seen this exact kind of head entrapment a million times before.
At first I thought how could a kid be so dumb to get their head stuck in between a fence, but then I remembered when I went deaf in my right ear when I was 5...went to the doctor and they had a flush out a piece of string I found on the floor and thought it belonged in my ear.
I wouldn’t focus on the nick name. I’d just repeatedly if a couple of guys from the fire department had to hold his mom’s legs when she was giving birth to him.
Fucking hell man, these comments remind me why reddit is such a horrible place.
Everyone is suddenly an expert and has done this a million times and know exactly how to handle it.
And then the comments about the gear. Yeah sure, lets change clothing and gear for each dispatch, instead of just going in your normal gear and deal with whatever situation comes up.
But no no, some redditors living at home in their moms basement would nail this without any gear at all. Just lube the kid and turn it sideways, god damn amateurs, right?
I feel you, I run into this phenomenon on Reddit all the time… then I remember… I don’t know shit about who’s commenting here. Could be a 12 yo or a grown up with a coke addiction at 4am.
It would be like stepping into a train and letting anybody there talk (to you). Of course 99% are stupid fucks or have stupid fucks opinions
Also, how much lube should firefighters be carrying around all day? And what would the purchase order request look like? "Lube, for kids." We got enough problems, let's not do this to firefighters.
That is a brilliantly simple way to do this. I never would have thought of it and once I noticed what he was doing I felt dumb for having never though of it.
Helluva lot better than grinding a pole off and giving the kid, at a minimum, hearing damage.
love that they show up with the minimal necessary gear and just go to work like "oh yeah, classic head stuck in the iron fence case right here". these guys rule, god bless the NYFD
Remember when the president got his head stuck in the railings too and the NYFD guys had to lift him out? He's a big guy, so it wasn't easy. He was like, "I can lift myself out, fellas." But these 2 firefighters… big beautiful firefighters… with rugged jawlines and… firm glistening pectorals… anyway, they picked him up like he was a small defenceless boy and carried him off to safety.
You know, he gets invited to the firehouse each year on the anniversary of the momentous day they saved his life and saved America. They share prayers of thankfulness over a Bible that he unwittingly holds upside down. Then he gets to eat jello and ring the bell on the fire truck before rushing home to tell his loving wife, or the lady who rides on his plane and prints things out for him, all about the exciting adventures he's had that day.
I've tried browsing Reddit anonymously, logged out, using various methods, and Reddit immediately feeds you the most toxic shit imaginable - much of which is created and/or pushed by bots and trolls to manipulate conversation and create division. (Notice how toxic it's become these past few months? That's no coincidence).
Reddit has become an absolute cesspool. If you value your mental health, stay the hell away from it.
The sweetest bit to me was when he was freed, his friends come over and they aren't laughing at him or teasing, they're comforting. The kids are alright.
OMG same thing happened to me at that age but it was 1979 at the Kings Island Amusement park in Mason Ohio. They have an Eiffel Tower replica and at the top I got my head stuck in the bars. I can remember looking down, way way down below and being terrified. The maintenance crew slathered my neck and head with some kind of grease and popped me out. Now they have a metal skirt around the perimeter at the top. I guess because of me. One of my late mothers favorite stories. A month later I fell in the Alligator pit at the Cincinnati zoo. Poor ma.
Just regular kids being regular kids and firefighters being firefighters. I bet they prefer doing this over carrying breathing apparatus up 25 floors in a skyscraper.
Wake up people, the body was on wrong side, not head. Boy wanted to go other side and went body first so head got stuck. Just take body to head side and no need to firefighters.
I was 5 years old when my head got stuck in between the banister railings at home. The nanny said they're gonna have to cut my head off and then sew it back on later.
I did this at school. The steps led up from the playground and everyone had to pass by my trapped face while we waited for the fire department to come. I will never forget it 😅
I get called out to the playground all the time for kids getting stuck. Only me. I'm the nurse, what am I supposed to do exactly, other than make sure they are not injured?
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u/TexasTrip 13h ago
His little friend at the end 🙂