From the outside Polish firefighters rescue a cat stuck in a window on the 7th floor

Polish firefighters rescue a cat stuck in window on 7th floor of an apartment block from the outside of the building which is very unusual. Some fighters don't do this as it is expensive and for some administrations a waste of public funds.

The rescue looks tricky. I have estimated that it is the 7th floor. I don't see a cat carrier on the cherry picker. And we don't know why the cat needed rescuing except to guess that the owner was away and the cat somehow became trapped in the window. He/she was released with the help of a metal bar.

My guess is that the window opens by rocking around a central axis and the cat walked on the window to get out because the owner was away for a long time. The window rocked on its axis and trapped the cat between the window and the frame. The cat then cried out and the fire service was called by a neighbour in the block. Just guessing and speculating.

Polish firefighters rescue a cat!Thank you heroes!👨🏻‍🚒🧡 pic.twitter.com/O27lD5AYAX

— No Cats No Life (@NoCatsNoLife_m) September 12, 2024

Separately, there is currently severe flooding in parts of Poland so there will be many pets who need rescuing and who have been rescued and probably some who've died. Let's think of them and wish them the best of luck.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Recent statistics relating to firefighters rescuing animals (UK)

Wales Online reports some interesting statistics regarding firefighters rescuing animals. I must presume that this information refers to UK firefighters operating within the UK although it is not stated. They report that in 2020-2021 the fire service was called out to save 5,160 animals which represents a 9% from the previous year. And it is the highest number of animal rescues that the fire service has been involved in since records began in 2012. Interestingly, the stats in the reports don't mention cats in fires! And that leads me nicely to one cat rescued from a wildfire during 40-degree Celsius weather which burned down the cat owners home. 

Firefighters rescue cats from house fire in UK. Cat rescues from house fires appear to be rare compared to rescuing cats stuck somewhere such as up a tree. Pic in the public domain.

Pets represented 52% of the rescues. Farm animals represented 20% and wild animals 24%. 5% of the callouts were to rescue birds such as parrots, budgies, ducks et cetera.

Releasing trapped animals was the most common callout at 1,965 events. There were 1428 rescues of animal stuck in a high place of which, unsurprisingly, 66% represented companion animals. I presume that this refers to cats on almost every occasion.

On 745 occasions firefighters were called upon to rescue animal stuck in water or mud. And 291 calls were to rescue an animal stuck below ground.

They used 8,791 appliances and 28,486 officers were involved.

The Guardian newspaper reports on the London Fire Brigade's involvement in animal rescue during 2020. There were 755 incidents which is more than two per day. The number of rescues that they were involved in increased by 20% compared with 2019 during which there were 602 rescues. The biggest increase in animal rescue concerned non-domestic animals.

It appears that the Covid lockdowns encouraged some cat owners (perhaps) to allow their cat to roam freely because traffic dwindled to a fraction of its normal intensity which provided relative safety for cats outside. But wild animals were seen more commonly due to the relative quiet and dramatic reduction in human activity. This accounted for more animal rescues than normal.

In fact, cats accounted for 45% of London Fire Brigade animal rescues but the biggest proportional increases were among birds and foxes.

During 2020 the London Fire Brigade spent £206,000 on animal rescue up from £240,000 and 2018 2019. The average cost of each rescue is assessed to be £346. One rescue of a horse stuck in a ditch which required two fire engines cost the fire service £2,700.

Calls concerning distress cats were the most common. In 2021 there were 337 such calls compared to 269 in 2019. They concerned cats stuck up trees, stuck under floorboards, stuck under solar panels and fridges and up telegraph poles and chimneys. One cat was stuck in a recycling bin after their owner failed to notice that they climbed inside a rubbish bag.

The Fire Service in London also rescued 23 dogs, 17 horses and 17 deer and there was a 34% increase in bird emergencies up from 141 and 2019 to 214 in 2020. There was a dramatic increase in rescues during spring when the first Covid lockdown was announced.

23 cats killed in a fire at a Florida pet adoption facility

A blaze at the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando facility killed 23 cats but all the dogs were saved by firefighters. The rescued animals have been taken to the organisation's facility in Sanford. Video footage from firefighters showed them quickly removing dogs from the facility. More than 30 animals were saved. The rescue was hampered when a roof collapsed inside the building which made access to all the shelter animals difficult. This may account for the fact that 23 cats died but no dogs. The dogs and cats were kept in separate places. The dogs were in a place where the fire had not quite reached. The cause of the fire is unknown at the moment.

23 cats killed in a fire at a Florida pet adoption facility. Photo: Facebook.

Firefighter bitten by a cat when rescuing 15 from a burning house

EVANSTON, Illinois-NEWS AND COMMENT: This must be an inherent danger for firefighters when rescuing cats from burning buildings which, I have to say, is not that uncommon. I am reading too many stories of domestic cats killed in fires. On one occasion many cats were killed in a home run as a cat rescue operation. Often the owners of the property race out of the house and leave the cats behind.

Firefighter bitten by a cat when rescuing 15 from a burning house. Photo: Evanston Fire Department.

On this instance, at around 8:45 AM, fire officers were called to a house on fire off Dewey Avenue, Evanston, Illinois, USA. There was heavy smoke on their arrival billowing out of the first floor according to the chief, Kim Kull.

The two residents escaped. One was working in the basement and the other was asleep upstairs. The firefighters rescued 15 cats from inside the home. Great work. Regrettably, one firefighter was bitten when trying to extricate a cat. He was taken to hospital for a checkup and released.

Comment: this had to happen sometime and it probably happens more often than is reported. Although don't firefighters wear gloves sometimes? But if you are grabbing 15 cats from a burning building, with some force, and the cats are going to be terrified anyway, one of them is bound to strike out. 

The cats are surrounded by pandemonium, confusion, smoke, flames, strange people dressed up in strange clothes, noise, you name it, the cats are having to go through it. It surprises me that there aren't more examples of firefighters being bitten or scratched by cats rescued from house fires.

Source: Patch via Yahoo.

Domestic cat survives 10 days down a well in Northamptonshire, UK

In another story which is yet again a testament to the endurance qualities of the domestic cat, a black cat named Flea went missing from her home in Loddington, Northamptonshire on April 24 and spent 10 days down a well. She was found about two days ago and throughout that time her owner, Keira Hill, had been searching for her.

 Domestic cat survives 10 days down a well in Northamptonshire, UK. Keira and Flea. Photo: Keira's sister (believed).

It transpired that she had fallen down a well in a neighbour's back garden. Neighbours heard the cat crying for help last Tuesday and called firefighters to rescue her.

Flea is less than a year old. Despite there being a foot of water at the bottom of the well, she had managed to clamber up onto a narrow ledge away from the water where she presumably stayed for approximately 10 days. Perhaps she returned to the water to drink some from time to time but I am speculating.

Keira Hill, a freelance gardener, said that she and her sister had done all they could to find her cat including appeals on social media and putting up posters in the village. They were beginning to fear the worst, perhaps that she had been hit by a car.

The well Flea fell in. Photo: Firefighters?

Like many domestic cats she likes to jump into cars and ends up taking unplanned road trips. Cats are inherently inquisitive and they will jump onto lorries for example which can lead to disastrous results.

Also like many cats once they are rescued they look as though they are completely unfazed by the experience and wonder what all the fuss was about.

The story reminds me of quite a common occurrence in India where leopards end up at the bottom of open wells. In the stories that I have read, the locals invariably rescue the cat with great difficulty which is surprising because I also see many stories of leopards being beaten to death by local people when they encroach into the urban environment. It's rather strange human behaviour.

Cat revived from near-death by firefighter in Volgograd, Russia

This is a video that I missed when it was first aired on February 28, 2018. It is a dramatic cat rescue and it is quite hard to watch because the cat is clearly near the point of death having been pulled out of what appears to be an apartment fire which killed three people.

 Cat revived from near-death by firefighter in Volgograd, Russia. Screenshot.

The cat appears to have been poisoned by inhaling smoke. We don't know whether the cat also suffered from heat exposure. Both smoke and heat can have long-term effects upon the health of an animal or a person.

We know that firefighters can suffer from heart attacks due to constant exposure to heat and of course we all know that people can die of suffocation in fires because of the smoke and fumes. Therefore, this cat's rescue is quite special. It is also nice to see firefighters attempting, often times successfully, to rescue companion animals from fires.

In these acts they are treating companion animals on an equal footing to human beings. Both are being rescued from a life threatening situation. The dedication to rescuing animals is the equal of the effort and dedication required to rescue the people. This is something that we should all strive for and which pleases me no end.

What is dramatic and harder look at is how the cat is near death and the firefighter administers heart massage, referred to as CPR, because it in addition to the heart massage he forces oxygen down the cat's throat. He does not use one of those special masks but does the best that he can with what equipment he has.

The cat revives but at one stage you think he's going to pass away. You can see this moment etched on his face. It's that close. He is on the cusp of life and death. He falls on the side of life. His owner is distraught. She is distressed and relieved at the same time. Starkly contrasting and conflicting emotions swill around her head.At the end, the cat looks noticeably better but the long-term prognosis might not be good. 

What of the smoke and carbon particles inside the cat's lungs. Will that cause health problems in the future? What would a veterinarian provide as a prognosis for this cat? And the heat may have damaged his heart as it does the heart of firefighters.

It's great to see his survival but I fear for his longevity.