Every once in awhile, the East Whiteland Fire Company gets unusual requests for services. In the past, this has included the cliche rescuing cats from trees to assisting trapped dogs. Sunday afternoon was one of those afternoons, when a community member called the station requesting our assistance with rescuing a cat stuck in a storm drain.
Deputy Chief 5 (C. Strauss) arrived on location at the 100 block of Oak Hill Circle and made contact with the resident, and requested engine 5-2 to respond. Deputy 5 also consulted with the Township Sewer department for advise.
Engine 5-2 arrived and crews began to pull up the sewer grates, and contact was established with the cat (crews could hear the cat's cries). Firefighters determined the best and safest way to extricate the cat would be attempt to get it to come out by running water down the pipes to flush the cat out. The initial attempts proved difficult when the cat escaped from one pipe into another. However, 2 hours and 3 full tank loads of water from Engine 5-2 and a load from engine 5-5 later, firefighters were successfully able to extricate the cat from the sewer, and reunite it with its grateful owner.
