Being a firefighter can be unpleasant at times.

You often hear about the heroics of Arlington’s bravest when there’s a house fire or a bad car wreck. But you don’t hear about the little things — the “public service” calls to help vulnerable residents or the medical calls where people are in pain from all manner of cringeworthy afflictions.

One such incident occurred last night.

A rescue company was called to Virginia Hospital Center around 10:45 p.m. to assist with the removal of a ring that was around a man’s genitals. The ring was causing “extreme swelling” and medical personnel were unable to get it off on their own, according to scanner traffic.

The jewelry was removed and the patient was in “good condition” following the removal, but a fire department spokesman brushed it off as all in a day’s work.

“It’s nothing exciting,” said Capt. Ben O’Bryant. “Our Rescues have tools for getting body parts out of machinery and other things so when the ER can’t get a ring off, they call Rescue 104 to help them out.”