‘That’s dedication to community’: Malden firefighters, state trooper go above and beyond for 2 young girls

When a young girl got her foot stuck in her bike Sunday, Malden firefighters came to the rescue.

But to free her, they had to break the bars of her bike with the Jaws of Life, Melissa Burke, the girl’s mother, wrote in a Facebook post.

“We went to the ER (she’s fine! Just a bruise) and when we got home there was a knock at the door. The fire department had gone out and got Ellie a new bike and a bunch of toys for both my girls,” Burke wrote. The act “restored my faith in humanity.” 

More recently, in Milton, state trooper Jim Burke found himself in a similar situation.

He responded to the Blue Hills Reservation Monday where a young girl and her family had reported a missing bicycle, state police wrote in a Facebook post.

The family had been visiting Houghton’s Pond, police said, when they left the girl’s bicycle at the pavilion to walk around the beach.   

“When they returned to the pavilion, they found that the bicycle had been stolen,” police wrote in their post. “The young girl was devastated.”

But after talking with the family, Burke offered the girl a bike he had at home that his daughter had outgrown. 

State police said the family was “ecstatic” as they accepted his offer. 

“The girl was so excited as she took her new bike for their first ride,” police added. “That’s dedication to community.”