EVER had a ring stuck where your finger has become so swollen that it hurts?
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This is all in a day's work for Orange's firefighters who've recently been called to this exact incident a number of times and it's called for some precision work.
Just before 6pm on Wednesday they received a call to a four-year-old girl in a home off Burrendong Way who had a washer stuck on her finger.
"It was a steel washer on her ring finger, it was a washer from a nut and bolt set," Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Orange Station Officer Matthew Jeffery said.
"We had to cut it off with a ring cutter.
"She found it a little confronting which is not unusual, she was quite upset."
Last week, they were called to a woman who needed her wedding ring cut off.
"The lady had fallen on that hand and it resulted in her hand being very swollen," Station Officer Jeffery said.
FRNSW crews can also be called in to cut rings off someone's hand if, for example, they have received serious burns.
The cutting wheel is operated manually.
- Orange Station Officer Matthew Jeffery
Station Officer Jeffery said cutting a ring off someone's finger is quite precise work.
"You've got a protective barrier, if you've got enough room you can slide it under the ring, or in this case the washer," he said of the four-year-old girl.
"The cutting wheel is operated manually."
Firefighters turn the wheel slowly so it begins to cut through the ring, they then use pliers to spread the ring apart so it can be removed from the finger.
Station Officer Jefferey said cutting a ring off someone's finger is among the types of calls that are classified as a 'rescue incident' by FRNSW.
During the past financial year, Orange's FRNSW crews attended 848 call outs with 77 of those classed as rescue incidents.
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