A Centralia firefighter climbed 30 feet up a fir tree Sunday to rescue an 11-year-old boy who became stranded while trying to catch a cat that had earlier suffered the same fate.
A Centralia firefighter climbed 30 feet up a fir tree Sunday to rescue an 11-year-old boy who became stranded while trying to catch a cat that had earlier suffered the same fate.
The Riverside Fire Authority responded at 12:15 p.m. Sunday to an address in the 2500 block of Colonial Drive in Centralia.
“On arrival, firefighters located a male child approximately 30 feet up in a fir tree, standing on and clinging to some branches,” according to a news release from the RFA. “The child was not injured, but was too fearful to climb down the tree.”
Firefighters first tried to rescue the child using a ladder truck, but because of the tree’s distance from the road, the ladder did not reach far enough to get to the child.
“Ladder trucks cannot be operated on soft ground and require a firm base under them, such as a roadway,” according to the RFA.
Chehalis Fire Department also tried to reach the boy with their ladder truck, but were not successful.
In the end, a firefighter donned a harness and rope and climbed the 30 feet to the boy. The firefighter secured the child to the rope and descended the tree.
“The child was cold but unharmed by the incident,” according to the RFA.
The boy was evaluated by aid crews and released to his mother.
“The cat found its own way to the ground during the rescue operation,” according to the RFA.
