We had this HUGE discussion in school about firefighting, and the first words my friend (he's from another country) said about Firefighters is that they put out fires and rescue animals from high places.
Has your company gone to rescue a cat, or maybe even a dog, from a high point?
Jeez, John, if you can't manage a ladder and PPE for a non-emergency, you probably shouldn't be messing around on a burning building with people screaming and shouting.
Wow, really Vic, do you really want to go down that road, to insinuate the dept I'm on can't manage a ladder? Seriously, not cool.
I understand what you are saying, I do not agree with it. I have had some encounters with domesticated animals and wild ones as well. I understand the reaction of a scared animal and it has absolutely nothing to do with managing a ladder. Despite your analogy, a burning building with screaming people do at least understand what the ladder is for and the person climbing it is going to do, not the same thing with an animal. I certainly don't agree with such "stunts" in the name nor the sake of PR, there are other ways to perform PR.
Exactly, cats that climb up the trees will come down if you just back off and let it make its way down. We had a call where a cat was 60 ft in a tree and we don't have the equipment to bring it down. So we told the owners to give it time and it will come down. Then we had a dog in the river which we took our rescue boat and got it out.
A number of years ago one of our firefighters received a call that a cat was stuck up in a tree , he decided to go and rescue this cat , the outcome was not good while trying to rescue this cat the firefighter fell breaking his leg and hip , the cat came down on its own . It is our policy to not rescue cats from trees, as one person said I have never seen a cat skeleton in a tree they will eventually come down. Its hard thing to tell a pet owner who is concerned for their cat which is a part of their family that you can’t help them out and that the cat will eventually come down. We have gone out on the ice for a dog which is a slightly different situation because of the likely hood that the animal will not be able to make it to shore because of the extreme cold. In the end like it or not you have to follow the procedures and policies of your department and way the risk.
Lady Heather...If your kitty is burning...maybe you should call your Primary care MD :> Sorry had to put some funny in here...people are getting way too overboard serious on this topic.