Spokane Valley Fire Department comes to rescue in more ways than one

A 5-year-old who got her foot stuck in her bike recently wasn’t worried as much about her own well-being as Spokane Valley Fire Department firefighters cut the bike to pieces, she was worried about losing her bike.

Later that day, her foot in fine condition, little Olivia Canner happily pedaled a pink princess bike purchased by the Spokane Valley Firefighters Benevolent Association.

At first firefighters were puzzled by the call they received for help.

“I think it came in as a foot stuck in a pedal,” said engineer Eric Hesse. A Spokane engine reached the scene first and soon called for extrication tools.

The girl’s mother, Kerri Canner, was at work when the incident happened and her father, Oliver Canner, was out of state on business. Olivia was being watched by her grandmother.

“She was riding her bike around in the backyard,” Kerri Canner said. “Her foot slipped off behind the pedal, and her foot somehow jammed between the pedal and the frame.”

The little girl loved her bike and would spend hours riding it, Kerri Canner said. Olivia stayed calm during the incident by talking to her mother on the phone and watching YouTube videos on her grandmother’s phone.

“She was sad because she just learned how to pedal two weeks ago,” Kerri Canner said.

Olivia’s grandmother called a couple of neighbors for help, but they were unable to free the girl. That’s when they called the fire department.

“It looked like they had been trying to get her out for a while,” said paramedic Garrett Camarota. “We cut it and had to use our spreaders to move it apart.”

Kerri contacted her husband, who pulled up the live feed from the surveillance camera in the family’s back yard. “Right when I logged in I saw the jaws of life,” he said.

But freeing Olivia was only the beginning. Firefighters with the Spokane Valley Fire Department have money withheld from their paychecks that goes to the Benevolent Fund. The fund is used to help people and the only rule is to make a difference. It’s been used to purchase bikes before, as well as cab rides home from the hospital or meals.

“We try to stay local to the people we serve,” Camarota said. “We try to enable the crews, when they can, to make a difference.”

The three crew members of Rescue 8 all had the same thought – to replace the little girl’s bike.

“That seemed like a perfect opportunity,” Camarota said. “It wasn’t the three of us, it was all the guys who put in a buck that made this happen.”

The crew texted the family for permission to buy a new bike and delivered it to their home the same day.

“She was very surprised,” Kerri Canner said. “It’s pink and princesses, so all of her favorite things. The next day she was up at 6:30 a.m. to ride.

“I was shocked and just so grateful that they would be willing to do that. We were just grateful they were able to get her foot out without breaking her ankle.”

Last Saturday the family stopped by Fire Station 8 on Wilbur Road to visit two of the crew members who helped Olivia that day. The family brought muffins for the crew and Olivia and her 3-year-old brother, Leo, got to sit in a fire truck and tour the station.

Olivia pedaled her bike around the concrete driveway in front of the station, then stopped when her front wheel went off the concrete and into the grass. Hesse once again came to the rescue, lifting her wheel back onto the concrete.

It’s evident that Olivia has no fear when she rides, even after a potentially traumatic experience.

“She loves her new bike,” her mother said.