Firefighters in Massachusetts, along with backup responders, spent two hours Thursday freeing a raccoon that had gotten stuck in a storm grate.

The Newton Fire Department tweeted a picture of the critter with its head sticking out of one of the grate's holes, and its paws grasping adjacent bars to support himself.

Newton Fire Lt. Phil McCully told NBC News that the department got a call about the trapped raccoon from a bicyclist riding to work.

A responding crew of four firefighters first tried to lubricate the raccoon's head with dish soap so he would "slip out," McCully said. Photos show the raccoon lathered with suds, its fur plastered to his face.