READING, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — Reading Firefighters burst into song at a rescue late Wednesday afternoon in order to keep a little girl calm while she was stuck in an elevator with her mom and baby brother.
Four-year-old Kaelyn Kerr of Billerica was on her way to get her haircut at a salon inside 580 Main St. when the door to the elevator she was in with her family jammed.
“I went to go push the door and nothing happened,” mom, Kristin Kerr, said. “So that’s when I was pushing the buttons and nothing happened.”
Firefighters were called to the scene with the objective of freeing the trapped family. The elevator was more like a chairlift in a 4×4 space with an open top. The only way out for the Kerr’s was up a ladder and over the wall.
“When they put the ladder down that’s when she kind of started freaking out a little bit,” said Kristin as she described her daughter’s fear during the rescue.
That’s what prompted the firefighters to get creative. Firefighter John Keough started talking to Kaelyn to try and calm her and learned she’s a fan of the Disney movie Frozen. His partner, Firefighter Scott Myette, then pulled out his iPhone and began playing the theme song to the movie. Before long, both men were singing along easing the fear of the little girl.
“It worked,” said Keough. “We got her to a point where she was comfortable with us and up the ladder we went, right up and over, no problem.”
Both are dads of young kids themselves and say that’s what prompted the idea to hum a tune in the first place.
“You say, okay how would my kids be comforted in this situation, so anything we can do to make them more comfortable makes our job a lot easier,” Myette said.
Mom and kids were stuck for about thirty minutes, but all got out safely.
