Utah firefighters go viral for letting scared little girl paint their nails at crash scene

CLEARFIELD, Utah — A pair of Utah firefighters are earning praise for calming a little girl involved in a car crash last week by letting her paint their fingernails.

North Davis Fire District officials wrote about the incident Saturday on Facebook.

"This is how amazing our firefighters are," the post read. "Our A shift battalion chief and captain were on the scene of a motor vehicle accident where a small female child was not injured but very scared. After noticing the child was holding bottles of fingernail polish, these two officers started talking to her about her polish and asked her if she would paint their nails.

“Within minutes, the child was calmly painting their nails and had forgotten about the accident she had just experienced.”

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The Associated Press reported that no one was injured in the crash, which took place in the northern Utah city of Clearfield.

North Davis Fire Chief Mark Becraft praised the men, who the AP reported are both fathers of young girls.

"Kudos to these great guys that serve our community," Becraft wrote in response to the Facebook post. "It's just the little things that make a huge difference."

KSL-TV identified the men, who posed for a photo with their newly-painted nails, as Battalion Chief Allen Hadley and Capt. Kevin Lloyd. The North Davis Fire District is based out of West Point, which is about 35 miles north of Salt Lake City.

A second photo shows a close-up of one of the firefighters’ hands, shimmery purple polish adorning his nails -- and significant portions of his skin.

As of Tuesday morning, the fire district’s post had been shared more than 2,500 times and hundreds of people commented on the men’s kindness and compassion.

Paula Eliason Taylor wrote that she loves her “NDFD family.”

"You all have love and compassion for those in and out of our communities," Taylor wrote. "May God watch over and bless you all."

She then joked that Hadley and Lloyd “should wear that color more often” because it accentuates their uniforms.

"Tough enough to wear purple and not care," Leigh Anne Schaeffer Love wrote. "Amazing job! Thank you for taking the time."

Becky Brenner wrote that, as a daughter of a former first responder, she was happy to see other first responders being so kind and gracious.

Carolyn Ann Brady Cooper wrote that she and her youngest son were in a crash several years ago, when he was 2 or 3 years old and very shy. She praised the treatment the first responders gave her son at the scene.

“First responders make a big difference in a situation for the smallest victims,” Cooper wrote.

Amy Sue Nelson Starks told the men they were “so pretty.”

"You'll be glad to know we now have a LARGE bottle of polish remover in dispatch for the next time," Starks wrote.

Cox Media Group