Rural house fire probed
A cat-whispering firefighter and the rattle of a box of cat biscuits finally lured Shadow out to safety after the moggy spent two days stuck up a palm tree.
On Friday, firefighter Daniel Boyd, from the Ha¯ wera Volunteer Fire Brigade, coaxed the 9-monthold cat out from the fronds and carried her five metres down a ladder to the ground.
It was the first time he had saved a stranded cat, although he had helped with other rescues.
‘‘I’m good with cats,’’ he said. ‘‘And I’ve just proved to my manager I’m not lying.’’
He handed the frightened black cat back to her owner, Api Hemara, but the cat wasn’t keen on posing for photos and quickly wriggled out of his arms and took off for home.
‘‘She’s been up night,’’ Hemara said.
‘‘She’s been calling was in a bit of a state.’’
It was the first time he had seen the cat climb the tree, which is in a neighbour’s front yard.
He had tried showing her food and even squirting her with a hose to encourage her to come down, but it hadn’t worked. there all out, she
‘‘I tried the SPCA, but they said it was too high [for their staff to climb] and they referred me to these guys,’’ he said.
‘‘I was considering hiring a cherry picker if that didn’t work, that was my next move.’’
He said he was very grateful to the brigade. ‘‘These guys do a lot to protect us at fires and accidents, and then something like this that might seem silly, they are here taking it seriously, which is nice.’’
The family had an anxious night without their pet, which normally sleeps with one of his older children, he said.
Station officer Michael Palmer said the brigade was called to one or two animal rescues each year.
The cause of a fire that razed a rural Taranaki house is being treated as suspicious and is under investigation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the Surrey Rd, Tariki, address about 8.20pm on Thursday.
Two engines from Inglewood and an operational support vehicle attended, along with a water tanker from Stratford and one from New Plymouth, as well as its incident support vehicle and about 18 Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff.
The occupants of the house all got out safely before the brigade arrived.
Firefighters could see flames leaping from the 15-metre by 12m building on the way to the job, senior station officer Jason Crowe, New Plymouth, said.
‘‘When they arrived they began working from the outside due to the structural integrity of the house.’’
On arrival the Inglewood brigade called for additional resources. However, firefighters, who remained at the scene for about three hours, couldn’t save the structure.
Fire investigation officers will try to determine the cause.
Detective Senior Sergeant Gerard Bouterey said detectives were to examine the remains.