Nevada Kitty Survives Jolt, Fire, Fall

Saturday, August 20, 2005 3:24:34 AM

GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) - A stalking foray atop a power pole left a lucky feline jolted, frizzled and dazed but otherwise OK after he fell off the 40-foot pole and sparked a fire outside a fire house.

The frazzled cat was discovered when paramedic-firefighters Andrew Chrzanowski and Jeremy Hall responded to the fire Wednesday morning after the lights went out at the Topaz Ranch Estates fire house.

"When we got the fire knocked down we saw this burned cat close to the base of the pole," Hall said.

They assumed it was dead until Chrzanowski noticed it was breathing. He put it on a blanket and gave it oxygen.

"We both thought that with the amount of burns he had he wasn't going to make it, but then we started to look more closely and we saw it was all superficial," Hall said. "The fire just burned all his hair off."

The firefighters believe the cat was on the pole, because a bird's nest was found on top and there was a large black spot where something had touched a relay switch on the 25,000-volt line.

Animal Control officer Janet Duzan took the cat to Carson Valley Veterinary Hospital, where Veterinarian Steve Talbot said it should make a full recovery.

"The doctor said it looks like he was in a flash fire and got singed from head to toe," Duzan said.

The cat will be put up for adoption if it is not claimed by its owner, she said.