Firefighters used an electric saw to cut free a little boy stuck up a magnolia tree yesterday.

Leatherhead firefighters cut away a branch and released the boy in the garden of a home in Pachesham Drive, Leatherhead, at 1.40pm.

The boy, believed to be about five years old, dropped down while climbing the tree and his leg became trapped in a fork. Watch commander Snowy Lewis said: “His leg was totally wedged. There was no way he was getting out without cutting the tree.

“He was crying when we first got there but we calmed him down.”

Firefighters used an electric saw to cut through the six-inch thick branch and release the boy.

Mr Lewis said: “When we got him out, we had him looked over by the paramedics.”

He said he believed it was the boy’s friend’s birthday party, adding: “We then showed seven of them round the fire engine.”