Sussex Firefighter rescues own daughter

3 June 2010, 18:35

A Crowborough firefighter has had to rescue his own daughter after getting her head stuck in a metal bed head-rest.

Crew Manager Bob Beard had a shock when his home address was shown on the emergency print-out at work.

Hear our interview with Bob Beard here

His three-year-old daughter is a big fan of the kids TV programme Fireman Sam and said to her mummy “I’m like Norman Price”, one of the show’s main characters, who is a mischievous school kid.

They decided to call the fire service and luckily daddy was on duty at the time and came to the rescue, along with the rest of Green Watch.

When they arrived at the Eridge Road property at 10am yesterday morning  the toddler piped up: “Daddy I need the Jaws Of Life” - an American expression used in the TV show for hydraulic rescue tools.

However, Bob Beard said: “I had no intention of using these on our bed as my wife would have said you are not using that!”.

Instead, they managed to lay the little girl on her back and release her by rotating her. She was only wedged in-between the bars for a total of ten minutes and was told to relax while the crews helped to free her.

Bob added: “It is just one of those incidents that happens and I am sure that there are lots of other firefighters who have had calls like this.

“However, the last thing you expect to do is to go to your own property and perform a rescue on a member of your own family. It can be upsetting but we have superb training and a fantastic crew who are extremely good.

“Safety in the home is paramount, especially during the half-term period, they will get up to things and get into trouble”.