Firefighters rescue two cats from burning German home after difficult operation

Firefighters rescued two cats from a burning house in Siebenbäumen, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in a difficult operation with a happy ending. The residents had managed to escape the burning single-family home with a dog and one cat. However, two other cats were left behind in the building. The rescue and firefighting efforts were complicated. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus advanced through dense smoke to the upper floor. One firefighter broke through the floor and narrowly avoided falling. Due to safety concerns, the rescue team retreated. The fire was then fought from the outside. Firefighters could not get close enough to the hotspots with a turntable ladder. With support from the THW (Technical Relief Agency), a bulldozer was brought in to help fight the flames, which flared up repeatedly. Shortly before the bulldozer was deployed, the missing cats were discovered behind a window. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus captured the two distressed animals and brought them out of the house in a cage. More than 100 emergency personnel were on site, and two were treated for minor injuries.

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One of them stepped through the floor and could only prevent a fall 'just in time'.