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A 7-year-old girl was injured Wednesday morning when she slipped and fell in front of a snowblower being run by her mother.

Indian Hills Fire Department Chief Don Schoenbein said the child hit the edge of the machine and suffered cuts to her head and leg.

About 24 inches of snow fell in the foothills neighborhood, and the child was with her mom as she cleared the driveway.

Schoenbein said the girl was hit by something — likely snow or ice — discharged by the blower and knocked into the path of the machine.

The child’s mother quickly stopped the machine before the girl was seriously injured.

Firefighters carried the girl down the quarter-mile driveway to an ambulance. She was treated at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.

“She was up and talking,” Schoenbein said of the girl, who was not identified. “She’s a very brave, very tough little girl. She did very well. She won’t go near a snowblower for a while, and her mother probably won’t let her.”

Schoenbein said people using snowblowers should take great precautions and children should be kept away from the machines.

“The unexpected can happen, as it did here,” he said.

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com