Rookie rescue

After a week of dangerous fires and near tragedies, Burton Fire District rookie firefighter found himself in a firefighter cliché and made his first rescue Friday morning, Jan. 17. Just past 9:30 a.m., Burton firefighters were summoned to a residence on Hampton Drive in Grays Hill for a report of a kitten stuck in a tree. The Burton fire crew arrived on scene and located the female kitten, named Zara, who had been out all night, and was now approximately 25 feet up in a tree and refusing to come down. Burton Fire District probationary firefighter Marek Malinowski grabbed a 35-foot ladder and made the climb, reaching the Zara and safely returning her to the ground and to her anxious-but-grateful human. To keep his probationary firefighter’s ego in check, Burton Fire District Engineer/EMT Michael Simmons was quick to remind Firefighter Malinowski that Zara still had eight lives left, “but I guess we’ll let you have a moment.” Photo courtesy of the Burton Fire District