California firefighters, a trapped kitten and a collective 'aww' from the internet

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Set us as preferred The three buff firemen dropped to their knees to comfort a victim in a tight spot.The victim: a teensy black and white kitten named Suki.The tight spot: a home entertainment center in which the meowing kitty’s head was stuck.The rescue this week in Camarillo by Ventura County firefighters was filmed by the feline’s owner, Erin Garcia.

And like so many irresistibly cute animal moments, it was posted to social media, where it promptly racked up millions of views and praise for the rescuers.“In this era when we have such devastating news that we see, sometimes it’s nice to have a ray of sunshine,” said Andrew Dowd, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department, who said the viral video, which is just a few seconds long, brought a lot of joy to the department as well.“Yes, we are a fire agency, but at the end of the day, we are a service industry,” he said.

“When someone in our community needs help, we help them.” The rescue took place Sunday morning, with Engine 50 responding to a call of an animal in distress, Dowd said.Suki, who had been with her new family only a few weeks, had crawled into an opening in an entertainment center cabinet and could not get out.

Firefighters removed audio and visual equipment, lowered the cabinet and “very carefully and gently” broke away a piece to free the kitten, he said.Suki, a tiny kitten that became trapped inside an entertainment center.

(Ventura County Fire Dept.)As they worked, the kitten, caught by her neck, meowed and tried to use her back paws to push the cabinet away.“Fortunately, Suki was OK” and had no injuries, Dowd said.Suki’s owner could not be reached for comment.

Nor could Suki, who utters only cute cat meows.Dowd, who spent two decades as a firefighter before becoming a public information officer, said he got called ...