Fire crew rescue autistic boy’s birthday toy plane
FIREFIGHTERS came to the rescue of a young boy’s birthday present, after it got stuck in a tree.
Casper Green, nine, is very enthusiastic about anything to do with aviation and was thrilled when his grandmother gave him a remote-controlled plane for his birthday.
But on his first time playing with it in Delancey Park, it got stuck in one of the tallest trees.
For any child this would be distressing, but for Casper, who has autism, there was a more extreme reaction.
His mother Sophie Robins-Green said she knew the family could not leave the park without the prized toy.
‘Casper has autism and unexpected and unpredictable situations like this cause massive meltdowns, and excessive upset and panic,’ she said.
‘There was no way I could leave that park without that plane, he was so upset.’
Unsure what to do, she called a cousin, who is a firefighter, to ask if there was any way the fire service would lend them a ladder to rescue the plane.
But Guernsey Fire & Rescue, hearing about the problem, sent out a fire appliance and a team of five firefighters to help.
The rescue proved to not be straight forward and a branch had to be removed to get the plane down.
And the Amherst pupil witnessed everything.
‘He was just so interested,’ Mrs Robins-Green said.
‘He was overjoyed to get his plane back.’
Casper bombarded the firefighters with questions and Mrs Robins-Green said she was touched that the firefighters had patiently answered all the questions and engaged with him.
‘They were very understanding,’ she said.
‘He can be quite full on, but they were really good with him.’
White Watch Crew Commander Alex Clark said it was relatively rare for them to be called to incidents like this, but they were always keen to help if they were not needed at a more serious incident. After hearing about Casper’s autism, he helped keep him up-to-date with everything they were doing.
‘I spoke to him about every little detail and he was very much part of what we were doing,’ Mr Clark said.
‘We are very much a community service, and so if we are needed, we are very much happy to help and make someone’s day. It was great to see him so happy.’
The incident coincided with World Autism Awareness Week.
Mrs Robins-Green said people seemed more aware about people having autism and how to interact with them.
‘I think over the last few years especially there has been greater awareness,’ she said.
