Firefighters bent iron bars to free a trapped boy

Millions of people have watched a group of FDNY firefighters free a young boy whose head was wedged between the iron bars of a New York gate. To the boy's credit, he never panics in the footage. He waits, ears clearly in the way, while the crew figures out how he threaded himself through in the first place. The method they use involves no power tools. They wrap a heavy strap around the bars and twist it taut with a crowbar, keeping at it until the tops of the bars bend and a small gap opens below the boy's head. A firefighter positioned behind him helps ease him out without a scratch. The trick is called a Spanish windlass, an old technique firefighters apparently keep ready for exactly this. The best part comes at the end. The boy's friends, who stood beside him through the whole thing, close in with high fives and shoulder slaps.