Firefighters rescued woman from baked bean tin

A baked bean tin stuck on a woman’s finger proved an unusual problem for firefighters which called for patience and a pair of tin snips.

Paramedics seeking help delivered the emotional and bleeding woman, along with her bemused partner, to the fire station in Shipley, West Yorkshire at 8pm on Saturday night. The victim’s index finger of her right hand had become wedged beneath the serrated lid of empty tin, said Watch Commander Phil Brown, who oversaw the painstaking operation.



“It was an old-fashioned can which had been opened with a tin opener, and then in the act of closing the lid or perhaps reaching for the last bean, the lady had jammed her finger in and couldn’t get it out again,” Mr Brown said. “She was in a distressed and somewhat confused state of mind, so the local ambulance crew came to us for help. Nobody seemed to know quite how she’d done it or why.”

The fire crew’s expertise in dealing with emergencies meant the woman, in her mid-20s, was soon free. “By using precision cutting gear – a pair of tin snips – we were able to free the woman from the can, the paramedics bandaged her cut finger and she was on her way,” said Mr Brown.