“Within 24 hours, it was like nothing had happened,” said owner Emma Hutchinson of James Bay, who adopted Willow and her sister Alder nine months ago.
Hutchinson said “there aren’t adequate words” to describe how grateful she is to the Victoria Fire Department for saving Willow. “They are heroes. They saved my cat.”
Deputy Fire Chief Dan Atkinson said he’s never seen another rescue like it in his 20-year career. “We used sledgehammers, jackhammers, hammer drills, angle grinder, Sawzall, shovels — you name it, we pretty much pulled it into play,” said Atkinson. “We even used a telescopic camera to go down the pipe to see if we could locate the cat’s exact whereabouts.”