Jack’s drama as firefighters free boy from toilet seat
It was a real-life ‘jacks’ drama as firefighters were called upon to free a toddler trapped in a mini toilet seat.
Jack Lynch’s relieved mum, Caroline, praised Cork firefighters last night for their deft handling of her unexpected toilet crisis.
“They are real-life superheroes,” she said.
Jack, aged three-and-a-half, was in the loo at home in Cloyne, Co Cork, on Monday when he managed to squeeze his toddler toilet-training seat over his head onto his neck.
“At first, I saw the funny side and of course, I took out the phone to take a photo. He was proud of his achievement,” Caroline said.
But after an hour of lubricating it with water, then cooking oil, before trying to cut it with scissors, Caroline knew she would need help to free “her little monkey”.
“His neck was getting red and he was getting a bit distressed, and there’s no chapter on this in the parenting handbook,” she joked.
On the advice of a mother’s group on Facebook, she contacted the emergency department at Cork University Hospital, where staff suggested she contact the fire brigade.
She alerted her husband, Brian, about the drama, then loaded her 12-month-old daughter, Aoife, and Jack, complete with his neckwear, into the car to collect her eldest son, Conor, aged six-and-a-half, from school, before they all set off for Ballyvolane fire station in Cork city.
She said the firefighters could not have been nicer when she arrived with her little problem.
“I felt like a right numpty. I felt we were such an inconvenience but they never made us feel like that,” she said.
“They were absolutely fantastic. They put Fireman Sam on a phone for Jack and went above and beyond to calm him down.”
They worked from behind with big pliers and had him free in less than half an hour.
“Then afterwards, they let him try on their helmets, they gave the kids chocolate and we left with a great impression,” Caroline said.
