Firefighters able to rescue cat from an unusual spot

A Charleroi woman heard the feline meowing from under the hood of a car.

It’s not too often firefighters are called to rescue a cat from a tree, let alone a car engine, but first responders in Charleroi were happy to help.

Charleroi Fire Chief Robert Whiten Jr. said they received a call around 9 a.m. Monday from a resident who found a cat stuck under the hood of a car.

“A woman called and said she heard purring or meowing and she didn’t know where it was coming from at first, but sounded like it was coming from the car. So she had someone open the hood and there was a cat stuck inside near where the washing fluid would be,” Whiten said. “All you could see was a head popping out.”

Firefighters responded to the scene, near the 200 block of Meadow Avenue, and got to work taking apart the vehicle to rescue the kitty.

“Our guys dismantled the interior fender and one headlight fixture, and there was so much room between the motor and the bumper the cat was a little scared, so it was running back and forth from one side to the other,” Whiten said.

Eventually the cat stayed still long enough for Capt. Matt Prentice to reach in wearing heavy duty gloves to get it out safely.

Whiten called resident Nancy Ellis, who is familiar with animal rescues, to see if she could help because they couldn’t find the cat’s owners.

“No one around knew who it belonged to, so we figured it was a stray,” Whiten said. “I called Nancy Ellis and she made a few phone calls and was able to figure it out.

“Getting it off of the street was the biggest thing, you know, because we didn’t want it to crawl back in there or get hurt somewhere else running around. It was frosted up this morning, so it was probably just trying to stay warm.”

Ellis said though many shelters are full, the Washington Area Humane Society agreed to take the cat.

“The humane society was kind enough to accept it,” Ellis said. “I filled out the paperwork to surrender it, and they are going to examine it and make sure it is OK and then hopefully it will be up for adoption.”

Whiten said the fire department is used to calls that are out of the ordinary.

“It’s one of those things, you never know what kind of call is going to come in, we respond to a lot more than fires,” Whiten said. “It’s all kinds of emergencies, and some calls are a bit weird, but we’re here to help the community and so that’s what we do, even the animals.”

Whiten said firefighters were assisted on the scene by Charleroi Regional Police.