By Katherine Hafner
The Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK,Va. — A man in West Ghent wanted to be a hero Friday morning, but instead he got in a pickle.
He scaled a tall tree in Blue Bird park off Azalea Court around 9:30 a.m. to rescue a cat stuck out on a limb, but climbed past his ladder and became stuck, said Norfolk Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Harry Worley.
Firefighters responded to the scene to assist the man, possibly a friend of the pet owner, who was stuck about 50 feet up the tree, and got him down safely within a half-hour, Worley said.
Then, “since they had the gear already deployed, they tried to see if they could rescue the cat.”
Worley stressed: “This is not something we normally do.”
https://twitter.com/norfolkfireresc/status/987334140512100352/photo/1
Firefighters used a ladder truck, coaxed the cat from the limb and whisk-er-ed it down from the tree, delivering it safely to its owner below.
“They were very happy, very relieved, very thankful,” Worley said. “They went around and thanked everyone. ... From what I could tell (the man who was rescued) was relieved to be back on the ground.”
The man and the cat could not be reached for comment.
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