By Jimmy Hancock
Idaho State Journal
POCATELLO, Idaho — It seems the iconic small town picture of a firefighter bringing a wayward cat down from the upper limbs of a tree isn’t as common an event as one might be led to believe.
“Pretty rarely,” said Pocatello Fire Captain Nick Christensen. “I think the last one I had was a year ago.”
Over his 16-year career as a firefighter, Christensen estimates he’s been involved in “maybe half a dozen” rescues of a feline from a high, difficult to descend location.
He added another on Thursday as firefighters were called out to rescue a cat from atop a wooden light pole on Lark Lane in Pocatello.
Troy McClure, a Pocatello Animal Control officer, said he and fellow officer Franci Turner were called by Pocatello Dispatch at about 10 a.m. and went out to the scene. They requested that the Pocatello Fire Department help out.
McClure, who has been an animal control officer for five years, says it’s the first cat atop a light pole he’s responded to during that time. He has been involved with a couple of rescues from a tree, though. Like Christensen, McClure says it just isn’t something they have to do very often.
“Most of those that get up into a tree, they will come down after a day or two at the longest,” he said. “Sometimes we end up calling in the fire department to get them down.”
He said under certain circumstances , such as those that put the cat’s safety in jeopardy, they w ill dispense with the wait time and call in the fire department.
But in this case, the cat’s ability to get down on its own was in serious question and Pocatello Station One, where the department’s primary ladder truck is located, was dispatched to the scene.
Christensen and two other firefighters arrived and made quick work of getting the gray-colored , long-haired cat down from the pole.
“I think it took them longer to get the truck set up than it did to get the cat down,” McClure said.
Later in the day, he said the cat was still quite flustered from the experience and remained in the small carrier he was placed in at the scene. They were able to ascertain, however , that the cat has no identification, or electronic chip to help determine an owner. The cat is currently at the Pocatello Animal Shelter.
Christensen said that while cat rescues are not frequent, it isn’t a great imposition either.
“Really it’s an opportunity to use the tools we have and get a little training in,” he said. “That’s my outlook on it. The truck belongs to the city and we use it however it’s needed.”
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