FIRE CREW BORROWS JACKHAMMER TO SAVE CAT TRAPPED IN PIPE

A Victoria firefighter says using a jackhammer and other home repair tools to save a cat stuck in a tiny basement drainpipe ranks as the strangest rescue call he’s been on in his 20-year career. Capt. Tim Hanley says he and three other firefighters spent more than two hours using sledgehammers and a jackhammer to break through Victoria homeowner Emma Hutchinson’s concrete basement floor to free Willow, a nine-month-old kitten. Hanley says Hutchinson called firefighters earlier this week pleading for help after discovering her cat had somehow become stuck in a drainpipe with a 10-centimetre diameter in her basement. Hanley says Hutchinson had numerous tools for firefighters to use. Hanley says Willow was crying and extremely dirty but was pronounced in good health after a visit to a veterinarian.