A young boy was rescued by firefighters this morning after spending 30 minutes stuck in a tree - only a metre from the ground the entire time.
The 9-year-old St Patrick's student at Taupo was climbing down from the tree for his first class of the day when he fell and caught his leg between two large branches at the base of the large, old willow.
His leg was stuck from his thigh to mid-calf and slowly started turning purple, office manager Donna Johns said.
The call to emergency services sparked three fire trucks and an ambulance into action, arriving at the school shortly after 9am.
Ms Johns said two of the fire trucks were quickly turned away when they realised what the emergency was.
After waiting patiently in the tree for half an hour, the "calm and quiet" boy was "eased" out by "three or four burly men", who had to move him gently backwards and forwards until he was free.
"He was fine, he wasn't panicking at all," Ms Johns said.
"We made sure that he was warm. We went and got the duvet from the first aid room because it was very windy and cold while he was stuck in the tree."
The tree was a popular one for climbing by students, Ms Johns said.
"We expected someone to fall out of it before they got stuck in it," she said.
The boy was in class by late morning.
"He's just going to have a wee bruise," Ms Johns said.
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