Firefighters rescue penis from metal ring

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Firefighters in California said they were called to a hospital for an unusual rescue -- removing a metal ring from a man's penis.

The Costa Mesa Fire Department said its Urban Search and Rescue squad was called Tuesday to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach to saw through a steel, ring-shaped dumbbell weight fastener that had been stuck on a man's penis for two or three days, the Newport Beach Daily Pilot reported Thursday.

Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Scott Broussard said the firefighters told him about the man the following morning.

"They said his comment was, 'This will make me the chief of my tribe,'" Broussard said.

The firefighters said the man told them he was attempting to increase the size of his penis and initially refused to have the ring removed, despite the fact it had blackened and swelled severely from the lack of blood flow.

"He was kind of a wingnut," Broussard said.

The man agreed to have the ring removed after doctors told him the flesh of his penis was close to dying off. Firefighters in full surgical gear spent two hours sawing through the ring. They said the operation was successful and the man was not injured.