Firefighters were called to a street in Kirkcaldy on Saturday evening after a young boy got stuck up a 30ft tree.
Alexander Reilly, a nine-year-old from Kirkcaldy, became stuck at the top of a tree for almost an hour after climbing too far up.
The youngster claims that he lost track of how far he had ascended before realising he had no clear path down.
Alexander was ‘easily 35ft in the air’
His mum, Cheryl, said: “He was easily 30 to 35 feet in the air and I don’t think that he realised it.
“Alexander climbs trees all the time, he loves it, so at first when some of his friends came and told me that he was stuck I just thought he would maybe be a wee bit too high.
“It was only when one of his friends told me that another woman had called the fire brigade that I started to think it might be something serious.”
The horrified mum soon spotted her son in the tree – dangling from the weak branches by his armpits.
“He was hanging on for his grim life,” she said. “He was using his armpits to hold himself up.
“If he had fallen there’s no telling what would have happened.”
Attempts to rescue Alexander
Fire crews quickly arrived on the scene and began trying to get the young boy down from the tree, however the job was harder than they had first imagined.
Cheryl said: “At first they [the fire brigade] couldn’t get him down.
“They tried using the ladder to reach him but they couldn’t get past all the branches, so eventually they had to send somebody up there to actually climb up and get him.
“For a minute I thought they weren’t going to be able to get him, they started talking about calling another fire engine with some different equipment, but eventually they got him.”
‘I wasn’t scared’
While the ordeal would have left many people terrified, Alexander claims that he was unbothered by the entire incident.
He said: “I’m feeling good now.
“I wasn’t scared at all – I just wanted to get down.”
His mother added: “He’s got no fear at all.
“At first I thought that somebody had maybe egged him on but all his friends were saying that he just went on and did it by himself.
“It wasn’t the first tree he’s been stuck up and it probably won’t be the last.
“He’s just not scared of anything.”
A spokeswoman for the fire brigade said: “We sent an appliance to the scene after receiving a call at 7.36pm.
“Crews attempted to rescue the boy using a short extension ladder.
“No injuries were reported and the boy is now in the care of his mother.”