Kitten survives dire spot thanks to CLE firefighters

Paul Kiska
·2 min read
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CLEVELAND (WJW) – City of Cleveland mechanics were shocked on Tuesday while performing a test on one of the Cleveland Division of Fire’s engines. A kitten was trapped inside of the fire engine’s pump compartment, narrowly escaping death.

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“It works the truck a little hard,” Maintenance Supervisor Lucas McCartney said. “So, it’s actually getting the truck very hot. It’s working as hard as it’s ever going to work. And when we shut it down, we heard the screams, and it was we just went right in there looking for.”

Those screams were a kitten crying for help, trapped inside a very hot compartment. It’s believed that the female kitten, somewhere around six weeks old climbed in the compartment at Cleveland Fire Station 10, hitching a ride over to the maintenance garage on 55th Street before being discovered during the test.

“Yeah, that’s a scary ride,” McCartney said. “Especially for a little new cat like that. Welcome to Cleveland, right? I mean, wow.”

During testing, there are parts whirring around at 5,000 revolutions per minute, making it truly incredible that the feline survived.

“You know, I look at the kitten, the kitten is very scared, looks really dehydrated and stuff like that,” Cleveland EMS Sergeant David Guzowski said. “Let’s try to get us some water and stuff like that.”

Guzowski said they worked to clean the kitten up and calm her down after the scary experience. They also gave her a name – Sparta – named after the fire engine model she was found in.

McCartney said it didn’t take long before his family wanted to bring her home.

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“My wife was wanting to take it right away after I showed her what I had found,” he said. “I took it home that evening. Once we got at home, it opened up quite a bit and we got it to actually eat some food and it was actually jumping out of the box. So yeah, definitely happy to be out of that pump compartment.”

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“Just trying to make a difference and do the best you can,” McCartney said.

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