Lawrence Firefighters Free Man's Hand From Snow Blower, Shovel His Driveway
LAWRENCE (CBS) – Firefighters freed a man's hand after it got stuck in his snow blower Tuesday morning, then helped him finish shoveling his driveway.
"There's proof. Because I was very lucky," said Dave Joslin. "The next person that does it may not be so lucky."
David Joslin is in pain and has nasty cuts on two fingers, but he says he is lucky.
"I got five stitches in this finger and two in this one," Joslin said. "That's it seven stitches. No broken bones."
It happened Tuesday morning when Joslin was snow blowing outside of his Lawrence home.
"It was wet and heavy," Joslin said. "The chute got clogged and I just put my fingers into the tip of the chute and it just sucked my hand all the way up to the elbow."
Lawrence fire crews rushed to the scene expecting severe injuries.
"Pretty minor considering the mechanism injury, a snow blower and those auger blades," said Lawrence Fire Captain Michael Blanchard. "It was nothing short of a miracle that guy didn't lose his fingers or his hand."
Joslin is not alone. Lahey Hospital has treated six snow blower injuries in the past two days.
"Unfortunately yeah. Start of the year, middle of the season, it doesn't really matter," said Dr. Casper Reske-Nielsen. "Whenever the snow blowers are out we tend to see it."
Firefighters took the snow blower apart to get Joslin's hand out. They put it back together and shoveled the rest of his driveway.
"That's service! Great job!" Fire Chief Brian Moriarty said. "Please don't stick your hand in a snow blower."
