Social distancing may have prevented Mikkey Wrigley from having a big party to celebrate his fifth birthday, but a group of firefighters still found a way to make the day special.
Mikkey got a surprise when 10 emergency service workers, including firefighters, Rural Fire Service volunteers and a police officer, showed up at his front door in Kalbar, south-west of Brisbane, to sing Happy Birthday.
Mum Elaina Wrigley said her son was left speechless at the gesture.
"He is obsessed with firefighters. I'm getting emotional, but this means so much," she said.
"Last year in kindy he dressed up as a fireman, so it's really special. It's beautiful."
The emergency workers drove fire trucks down the street with sirens blaring before getting out, singing and handing out balloons.
Ms Wrigley said it made the day special after their initial party plans had to be cancelled due to social-distancing rules.
"He's in prep now so he would've had his first class birthday party with his friends," she said.
"He'd be seeing Grandma and Pa, who is in a nursing home, normally, but obviously that couldn't happen."
'We'll do the best we can to put a smile on children's faces'
The surprise visits were started to help lighten the mood for the kids in town who can't go to school, go out on holidays or have a party during the coronavirus pandemic.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Service Kalbar captain Scott Webber said his wife Deanna came up with the idea, and soon local police and rural fire volunteers jumped on board.
"We've been through drought, the fires and storms so we just thought, why don't we wish these kids happy birthday?" he said.
"It's not our typical job description, but there's so much negativity in the world at the moment, locally if we can make families happy, then that's great.
"We have one singer who's pretty good but we're definitely not a choir. We're just there for the fun of it."
Captain Webber said the emergency services workers also looked forward to the visits.
"We've done a few now. With the first one we had a lot of people out on the street as well," he said.
"The mum cried happy tears. The kids are just so overjoyed, which is great to see."
Deanna Webber said the reaction of each child was priceless.
"Mikkey is a diehard firey fan, it's awesome. He just loves the firefighters, he's always on the trucks on [our open days]," she said.
"Everybody just seemed so happy.
"It's just something little that we can do, something to brighten the mood around the town.
"We'll try to continue it as much as we can. We'll do the best we can to put a smile on children's faces."
