WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Firefighter hangs from bridge trying to rescue a kitten
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By Christy Hutchings - bio | email
BURTON, SC (WTOC) - The Broad River pier in Burton South Carolina is a popular fishing location. Normally it's pretty quiet there, but Monday fisherman started hearing something coming from the bridge.
They all thought it sounded like a kitten meowing and turns out it was. The kitten was tucked away under the pylon and it appeared the kitten couldn't get down on its own.
Since Monday people have been trying to feed it, but no one could get to it. Some even tried to rescue the kitten on their own which is why the fire department stepped in on Thursday.
"They mean well, but we just can't take that risk," said Captain David Grabenbauer with the Burton Fire District.
The fear was that someone would fall from the bridge trying to rescue the kitten. That's why the fire department decided to do it themselves.
Firefighter John Moser rappelled over the side of the bridge in an attempt to get the kitten. He made it to where the kitten was, but just couldn't get the kitten to come out.
People underneath the bridge just watched. "That was really cool. I know it was scary," said Storm Mills.
Mills is a daughter of one of the firefighters helping in the rescue effort. She was there with her mom and two other sisters Casey and Cameron.
They couldn't take their eyes of the firefighters trying to rescue the kitten and when asked what's their most worried about, the girls replied honestly.
"I'm worried about the kitten a lot. We're both really worried about the kitten," said Storm and Casey.
The girls say they'd even take the kitten home, but their dad probably won't go for that one.
"He says yes to a lot of things but I don't know about this one," said Storm.
They still have time to persuade their parents. Because of the storm, the rescue had to be called off until tomorrow. No one wanted to see that happen and the firefighters blame one person for it, firefighter Moser.
"I think he was lacking on the meow. We need to send him to the animal shelter to work on his meow," said Captain Grabenbauer.
Captain Grabenbauer is only joking. He says all the guys did a great job today.
They left the cage and hoped the kitten would walk into it and the kitten did. At 11:30pm Thursday the kitten was still in the cage.
Tomorrow firefighters will be climbing over the bridge once more to bring the kitten home.
It's still unclear how the kitten got up on the bridge
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