Community Corner

Firefighters Save Soaked Skunk; Woman Rescued While Rescuing Deer

The Monrovia Fire Department performed a couple animal related rescues recently.

Animal-related rescues spiked in recent weeks for Monrovia public safety officials, as they recently responded to a call of a woman who slid more than 100 feet after trying to rescue a trapped deer and also saved a skunk stuck in a storm drain.

Firefighters were dispatched to the hillsides behind a residence in the 500 block of North Alta Vista Avenue on Mar. 20 to aid a woman who slid more than 100 feet down an embankment while trying to give aid herself. The wet weather had left a deer trapped on the hillside and she was attempting to free it when she tumbled herself.

"The call came in that a woman was trying to assist a deer and fell down the side of the hill," Monrovia Fire Chief Christopher Donovan said.

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A "unique low angle rescue" had to be performed, whereby firefighters retrieved the woman using a system of ropes, pulleys and a basket. She suffered only minor injuries.

Meanwhile, police and firefighters salvaged a potentially stinky situation when they were dispatched to help a skunk that got trapped in the Sawpit Wash near East Lemon Avenue on Mar. 5.

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Heavy water flow in the wash left the skunk unable to move, so firefighters lowered a ladder into the storm channel, entered it, and then walked about 150 feet to retrieve the critter.

The skunk was "exhausted and cold" and placed on a pathway to rest, according to a report written by Donovan.

"MPD reported later that day the skunk was up and moving around," the report reads. "Another successful technical rescue by Truck 101."


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