A firefighter was seriously injured Sunday when he fell from the roof of a Goleta home while answering an animal rescue call, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
County firefighters were called about 2:15 p.m. Sunday to rescue a cat from the roof of a one-story residence on Walnut Lane in Goleta, Capt. David Sadecki said.
The male firefighter was attempting to use a ladder to get onto the roof when he fell and was seriously injured, Sadecki said.
At that point, the call became a medical emergency, Sadecki said, and an ambulance arrived on scene to transport the firefighter to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Sadecki said on Monday that he could not provide the firefighter’s name or current medical condition for privacy reasons.
The firefighter worked out of Station 12 at 5330 Calle Real in Goleta, he said.
Sadecki said it wasn’t unusual for firefighters to experience minor injuries while in the line of duty, but Sunday’s incident was far less common.
“It’s a dangerous job,” Sadecki said. “It hasn’t happened in a while where we’ve had a firefighter that’s had a serious injury.”
Sadecki said he didn’t know if the cat was eventually rescued, since the injured firefighter became the priority.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.