Firefighters can receive a call to rescue an animal from a dangerous situation, or an animal can be rescued during a different firefighting intervention, such as a fire where in addition to extinguishing the fire, it is necessary to rescue livestock.
This requires great caution as animals are scared and can pose a danger to the firefighters themselves, the Association was said.
Most animal rescues are related to rescuing cats that have climbed onto trees, roofs or poles, or dogs that get stuck after crawling into pits or shafts, but sometimes firefighters also help to catch or rescue dangerous animals, such as snakes, which are then returned to their natural habitat.
There were even instances where they rescued a monkey that escaped from a zoo, and helped catch an exotic pet, iguana, which had fallen from the balcony and then wandered off, although such situations are very rare. All of these interventions ended happily for the animals (and the firefighters), firefighters said.
Dogs part of firefighting teams
The Croatian Firefighting Association also said that they have dogs trained to rescue people in nature and from ruins of buildings, and 17 licensed firefighting teams with search-and-rescue dogs, operating from the eastern Slavonia region to the south of Dalmatia.
Dogs proved to be a great asset, especially during natural disasters, such as the 2020 earthquake in Petrinja, when firefighting dogs did a great job searching for survivors. A firefighting dog and its handler work as a team and are together practically 24 hours a day, the Association said, adding that firefighting teams are now trained for helicopter-supported operations.
The Association said that the Croatian Fire Museum in Varaždin has been dog-friendly since 2016. Firefighters have been involved in a campaign by the Friends of Animals NGO, and support the ban on firecrackers, which scare animals, as well as the campaign against keeping dogs on a chain.