A heartwarming moment for East Haddam firefighters. A kitten they helped rescue from a house fire just days ago has been nursed back to health and they’ll be taking care of him.
“I’m just so elated I think we all are.”
A touching reunion for East Haddam firefighters seeing the month-old kitten they helped save. He was the only kitten out of four taken by firefighters to veterinarians that survived. The kittens were rescued from a house fire on Thursday.
“He was smelling of smoke. Labored breathing and we were just very concerned about his overall condition,” Melanie Kolek with the East Haddam Fire Department said.
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Firefighters named the kitten “Soot” and were grateful for the veterinarians that cared for him.
“I attribute a lot of this guy thriving here to the initial care that we were able to give him at Moodus vet,” Kolek said.
Soot was then taken to Pieper Olsen Veterinary Hospital in Middletown where he was nursed back to health.
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“So excited that he’s doing much better than what he was when left him here on Thursday. He was in quote 'the dire straits' but served as a beacon of hope for our community,” Kolek said.
Hope that’s welcome to a profession that can have difficult moments.
“As first responders, we all know that it is just that the nature of our job is difficult and when we have our wins, we celebrate our wins, and this little guy is a win,” Kolek said.
Soot was released from the hospital and will be taken care of by an East Haddam firefighter who has a cat at home. The department says Soot will likely be a station mascot.
“Firehouses are known to have Dalmatians in their houses, but we can definitely rewrite the chapter on that with this little guy,” Kolek said.
