Henderson Firefighters during a training exercise at their facility on Warm Springs Road Wednesday morning in 2009. Firefighters from Station 81 were dispatched early Monday morning to rescue at kitten trapped in a wall in Henderson.
Friday, June 23, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Henderson firefighters faced a problem they’d never seen before Monday morning — a kitten stuck in a concrete wall.
Station 81, located at College Drive and East Horizon Drive, was dispatched to a report of a kitten stuck and in distress at 3:30 a.m. Steven Dean, a paramedic and firefighter with the department since 2017 was on the call.
The kitten’s owner and a friend told firefighters they’d found the cat at about 11 a.m. the day before. They’d tried coaxing the kitten, but nothing was working.
“They started getting worried about the cat and decided to call for help,” Dean said.
Upon arrival the crew of four could hear the kitten meowing in ways that sounded like cries and yells, he said. However, it appeared the cat climbed into the wall through about a two-inch crack and firefighters couldn’t see exactly where the kitten was at.
They decided to use some of their modern technology to help locate it — a cellphone on selfie mode with a flashlight. The phone grabbed an image of the cat about four to five feet up in the wall, wedged between cinderblocks.
“Our main focus and main worry were how to get him out without injuring him,” Dean said.
“We didn’t want to grab him with a device and yank him out.”
Dean said the fear was that maybe a paw was stuck and the cat could be injured in attempting to free it.
The firefighters employed a device typically used to unlock car doors to get a better understanding of where the kitten was in the wall.
The device was slipped into the wall until it touched the kitten, Dean said. The firefighters then placed a mark on the outside of the wall where they suspected the kitten was.
They then hammered a hole in the walll below the kitten, and Dean reached in.
“He was not super thrilled,” Dean said. “I was able to grab his leg and pulled him out.”
A video on the department’s Twitter shows the kitten meowing loud disapprovals as Dean pulls the cat from the wall.
“There was a lot of brainstorming between the four of us,” Dean said. “I was happy we got him out and didn’t do harm to him.”
Dean moved to the area with his wife in 2015. His father and grandfather were both in Law Enforcement in California, and he wanted to follow in their footsteps by working in public service.
“It is something I’ve been passionate about for a long time,” Dean said.
As a new father of a 14-month-old daughter and pet owner of a dog and a cat, Dean said he understands why it can be hard for owners to see their pets in distress.
Dean said the call wasn’t typical for his station. He said his involvement with animals happen often when a structure is on fire.
Pets will sometimes hide once a fire starts, and it can take time for firefighters to find them. He said the department has oxygen masks made specifically for dogs and cats and have individuals trained on how to perform CPR on pets.
Luckily, Monday’s call didn’t require any medical aid.
“A lot of the experiences we share with the public are tragic, so it is nice when there is a happy ending,” Dean said. “I’m glad it worked out for the cat and the owners.”
