Salisbury volunteer firefighters have lots of heavy equipment for rescues they may be called on to perform. Mostly, though, it's hydraulic equipment to cut away metal that has trapped people in vehicles after highway crashes.

For three small kittens trapped beneath a concrete stoop by a landscaping project at a Country Club Road residence, though, the rescue tool used was a saucer of milk to try to entice the kittens from their hiding place.

After an extended wait, it was clear the kittens were more scared than hungry and Western Salsibury Fire Department Fire Chief Joshua Wells called Lehigh Valley CART animal rescue technician Darrell Singles to assist.

LV CART, or County Animal Rescue Team, was formed several years ago to respond to federal legislation passed after so many animals were stranded after Hurricane Katrina with no formal rescue organizations in place.

The rescue operation started Sunday afternoon, June 16, Father's Day, when a Country Club Road resident returned from an out-of-town trip and heard the cry of kittens from under his concrete stoop. The homeowner had contracted for a landscaping project while he was away and landscaping stones abutting the front stoop apparently trapped the kittens in the void under the pad.

Not sure how to free the kittens, the homeowner called the Lehigh County 911 Center seeking help. The communications center dispatched Western Salisbury volunteer firefighters for an animal rescue.

WSFD Chief Joshua Wells, a landscaping contractor, found the void could be accessed by pulling back some of the stones.

Getting the kittens to come voluntarily to a saucer of milk, however, was another matter. Firefighters could see the kittens, but they were out of arm's reach and firefighters did not want to harm the animals with metal pry bars they had on their vehicles for use at fire scenes.

Thinking ahead that a tricky rescue might be in store, Wells alerted CART rescue technician Darrell Singles, who had assisted the fire department on a number of previous occasions.

Singles arrived with nets he used to snare the kittens from the void.

After an extensive search of the neighborhood failed to turn up a mother kitten, a humane society volunteer was contacted to pick up the three cute little creatures, take them to a shelter and put them up for adoption.