EASTON, Mass. (WHDH) — Eight firefighters used vegetable oil — and some heavy equipment — to help get a toddler’s arm out of a hole near a heating pipe in the floor of a family’s Easton home.
Jose Carlos’ toothbrush had fallen through a hole in the floor.
“He tried to reach for it, but he couldn’t and then he got his arm stuck,” said Marie Claire Silva, Jose Carlos’ sister.
His siblings tried to pull him out. Then his parents put Vaseline on his arm and yanked, but they weren’t successful. They eventually called the fire department and made him comfortable as they waited.
“He said, ‘I need my blanket mommy’,” said Katia Silva, Jose Carlos’ mother.
“We came in and saw a 2-year-old basically with a shoulder pinned to the floor, all the way down to his shoulder, obviously crying in distress,” said John Dzialo, a paramedic firefighter.
“The way it was positioned, it was really wedged in there I guess,” said Shawn Goyette, a paramedic firefighter.
The rescue was complicated and backup was called in. A total of eight firefighters on two floors in the home were working to help free the boy.
“When I got there they had already cut part of the floor, so I went down to the basement — you could see the kid’s hand coming through the floor,” said Darren Stone, a paramedic firefighter.
The crews try to avoid destroying property, but they said they couldn’t get the boy out without tearing up the floor a little bit.
“He was calm, but as soon as the power tools start going, that obviously makes anything more scary, the more noise,” said Kyle Lovell, a paramedic firefighter.
Officials said it was a very delicate situation where they had to do what was best for the toddler. They took extra time to make sure he didn’t get hurt.
A couple of firefighters were in the basement and manipulated his arm — with a little vegetable oil it slid right up.
Jose Carlos was taken to the hospital with some scratches. He is doing just fine.