RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A Racine boy is recovering after getting his tongue stuck to a pole.

The Racine Fire Department was called out to the area of 17th and Republic on Wednesday morning for a 9-year-old boy who had his tongue stuck to a pole.

"He literally was screaming 'my tongue, my tongue' and just drool and blood. I'm telling him 'calm down, calm down'," said Shavet Winters, a neighbor.

A neighbor ran to get warm water but it was too late.

"He had already pulled his tongue off. I wish I would've said to him don't pull that because he was already pulling it when I came," said Mercy Dominguez, a neighbor.

The neighbors say that the boy did lose a piece of his tongue but they heard emergency crews tell him that he'd be okay. 

"He said 'I didn't mean to do it' I just wanted to see if it was real," said Winters.