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OUCH! Finger stuck in bench requires Orlando fire department rescue

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Updated  December 18, 2019 3:44pm EST
Orange County
FOX 35 Orlando

Firefighters called to rescue girl who got fingers stuck in bench

Orlando firefighters performed a delicate rescue after a teenager got her finger stuck in a steel bench.

ORLANDO, Fla. - A 14-year-old middle school student won’t ever forget what happened to her at lunch on Monday. Jaysha was eating lunch with her friends when her middle finger got stuck in one of the holes in the bench outside the cafeteria.   

“I get a call from the middle school and they’re like we’re going to need you to come out something has happened in school, let’s not get too worried.  So obviously you start to worry,” Jenn Lopez told FOX 35 News. 

Lopez rushed to the school and was escorted out to where her daughter was sitting.  “I’m thinking we’re just going to put a little soap a little lotion a little Vaseline, it’s going to work,” Lopez said.  

The finger was too swollen and the Orlando Fire Department (OFD) was there to step in with an air-powered cutter tool.  

“It takes a very steady hand,” Firefighter Asher Blumenthal.   

It also takes a calm patient.  OFD placed ear protection over Jaysha’s ears to muffle the noise, they created a shield to block the spark spray and they walked her through the entire process, earning her trust. 

“We explained it to her, we took our time,” said Gerald Seidel before they began cutting the bench.  “We had to cut the patient out of the bench first. So we took a full piece of the bench out of the seat. And then once we did that, it became a regular ring removal."

He then slid coffee stirrers between Jaysha’s finger and the chunk of the bench it was stuck in to create a barrier so he could cut the final chunk off of her finger.  

“She had to trust them. I had to look away.  As a mom, I was like, 'Ugh, anything could have gone wrong!'” Lopez said.

Nothing did.  Firefighters Blumental and Seidel explained they have been tasked with cutting patients out of objects more than you’d think.  However, this case was a first of its kind for both of them.  That was my first park bench, first park bench,” Seidel said.

Jaysha is okay. She didn’t even need to go to the hospital.  Her mom tells FOX 35 News that it took about 24 hours for the swelling of Jaysha’s finger to go down.