Eight-year-old Harriet Lipshut kicked off her school holidays with an unexpected adventure, finding herself stuck in a playground 'pipe' for 20 minutes and requiring a full-scale rescue from emergency services on Tuesday morning.
Harriet was enjoying the sunshine at Wangaratta's Apex Park with her sister, Matilda, brother Patrick and mum Susie Rudd.
She climbed to the top of a high round structure at Parkour Park and as she attempted to get down, her leg became trapped inside a tubular handle, hanging some metres off the ground.
Ms Rudd was catching up with a friend over coffee when Matilda let her know Harriet was stuck and becoming distressed.
“We took turns at trying to hold her up, we had her on our heads trying to push her up, straightening the leg trying to get her out,” she said.
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“But nothing was really working.”
Ms Rudd gave her husband Simon a call, later coming in armed with WD-40 and cream.
Passerbys also tried to assist and did their best to get her out, but Harriet wouldn’t budge.
As stress started to rise and Harriet became scared, Ms Rudd said she and those who came to help felt it was time to call Triple Zero.
“I was still on the phone when I heard the sirens,” she said.
“It’s very reassuring that if something went wrong, they were so quick and they were really friendly.”
Firefighters, SES and Ambulance Victoria paramedics arrived at the scene, with emergency service personnel able to widen the bar just enough for Harriet to free her leg and safely climb back onto the ground.
She was given a teddy bear by the SES for her bravery throughout the short rescue.
Harriett said she was feeling scared stuck in the pipe and took a few minutes to wind down, but she was feeling better in the minutes afterwards, as she held on tight to her new teddy.
“What I think happened is that I could just fit in it and then all of a sudden I grew,” she said.
Harriet said she was keen to wind down at a café for lunch following the family’s eventful morning.
Rural City of Wangaratta Council director of community and infrastructure Marcus Goonan said council would review this playground and take action if required.
"We regularly inspect our playgrounds against the required standard," he said.
