Fire Services warns the public
In the bedroom, try to avoid becoming ‘50 shades of red’
If the Ottawa Fire Services and its colleagues with the City of London Fire Brigade had their way, you and your significant other would be more careful in the bedroom.
Marc Messier, an Ottawa fire spokesman, said his service has endorsed the message behind the brigade’s campaign to reduce the number of avoidable calls.
The brigade blames the book Fifty Shades of Grey for an increase in the number of calls they have received for people stuck in handcuffs.
In the last three years, firefighters in London helped free almost 80 people stuck in handcuffs. The brigade suggested handcuff users keep the keys nearby.
“I don’t know whether it’s the Fifty Shades effect, but the number of incidents involving items like handcuffs seems to have gone up,” Dave Brown, a London Fire Brigade officer, said in a statement.
“I’m sure most people will be 50 shades of red by the time our crews arrive to free them.”
‘I don’t know whether it’s the Fifty Shades effect, but the number of incidents involving items like handcuffs seems to have gone up.’ DAVE BROWN London Fire Brigade spokesman
The brigade has responded to more than 1,300 calls for people stuck in household items since 2010, according to a July 29 press release to launch the campaign.
It’s hard to keep track of the number of bizarre calls in Ottawa, Messier said.
Calls can fall under several different classifications, such as “other type of extrication,” while others are listed as a medical call.
In the last three years in London, firefighters have been called 18 times for children with their heads stuck in potties or toilet seats.
The brigade has also responded to calls after men got their penises stuck in various devices, such as a vacuum and a toaster.
The most common type of calls London firefighters get are people in a jam with rings, bracelets and watches. If it doesn’t fit, don’t put it on, the brigade suggested.
Adults who think they’re children can end up in a bind, like a man the brigade rescued two years ago.
“If you think you’re too big to fit into your child’s toy car, you are,” the brigade tweeted using the hashtag #fiftyshadesofred.
While Ottawa firefighters may not have seen adults stuck in children’s toys, they have witnessed their share of bizarre situations.
Messier said a woman walked into an Ottawa station to see if firefighters could help after her hand got stuck in a bread maker.
An Ottawa fire station got another interesting visitor when a man in handcuffs arrived to ask for help.
Firefighters called police to make sure he hadn’t escaped their custody before they cut off the cuffs.
Firefighters were called on another occasion to a hospital’s emergency room after a man turned up with a wrench stuck on his penis.
The tools firefighters arrived with weren’t delicate enough to free the wrench, but instruments normally used to repair vehicles came to the rescue.
Messier recalled another case where a man was trying to break into a convenience store from the ceiling when he got stuck in the ventilation system.
People in a hair salon in the same strip mall heard commotion in the ceiling and called 911.
Firefighters had to cut the man out of the duct work, Messier said.
The advice from Ottawa firefighters is simple: “Use common sense and don’t stick limbs and arms and fingers in places where they probably shouldn’t be,” Messier said.