The Fire Department came to the rescue-- under protest and after private enterprise made a pitch for the job. : Cat Up Tree Puts System Out on Limb

The way that a litigious society faces its minor but irritating public duties came under a strenuous test Thursday on a quiet street in Sunland. The results were successful, if not entirely gratifying.

The task was to get Wampie, a sleek, gun-metal gray cat out of a palm. Wampie had climbed the tree 15 days earlier and cried every night to get down.

As expected in this situation, the Los Angeles City Fire Department made a brilliant rescue but only under protest and only after private enterprise made a strong pitch to get the job.

Wampie’s plight up there, 50 feet off the ground, was more of a problem than it might have been, said her owner, Annie Elberts, because the palm is in her neighbor’s yard and the neighbor declined assistance.

Elberts said the neighbor, Charles Britz, told her he was worried about being sued if anyone should be hurt and said that, anyway, the cat would come down by herself.

‘Would Come Down Herself’

Meanwhile, animal experts advised Elberts that, as Britz suggested, Wampie would come down by herself.

“I’ve never known of one dying in a tree,” said Sgt. David Harvard, field officer for the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He said the cat would jump when she got too thirsty.

“I’ve seen ‘em jump 40 or 45 feet out of trees and land and bounce a couple times and take off running, but I’ve never known one to land and die,” Harvard said.

On Wampie’s 12th day in the tree, Elberts finally lost faith. She phoned the East Valley Animal Shelter.

A deputy was sent to the semi-rural Shadow Hills neighborhood. She recommended a rescue.

A city street tree-trimming crew came out first but concluded that the palm, about 20 yards up a sloping asphalt driveway in Britz’s front yard, was too far from the street.

So Elberts sought her own solution, calling several tree trimmers.

Don Easterby, a La Crescenta tree trimmer with a can-do attitude, told Elberts he’d get the cat down, no charge.

He showed up with a ladder Tuesday evening. Easterby made quick work of the neighbor’s fears. He signed a waiver promising not to sue if he hurt himself.

Unfortunately, his ladder was too short. He said he would return Wednesday night, but then he got tied up on a job. He promised to be there Thursday.

That morning, however, a story in the Daily News described Wampie’s predicament and Lt. Robert Pena of the East Valley Shelter phoned a deputy to Councilman Howard Finn. The deputy called the Fire Department.

Firefighters Called

Just before noon, two fire engines pulled up to the Elberts home on Siesta Drive.

Battalion Chief Neil Bullock wasn’t enthusiastic about the job. He said his last cat rescue was probably 20 years ago and that the Fire Department shuns what once was its traditional responsibility for kitties in distress.

“We just tell them they’ll come down,” he said. “And they do.”

While Bullock and his men were forming a plan, a young man who described himself as actor-publicist Ed Frommer showed up with a plan of his own.

Frommer explained excitedly that he had read about Wampie in the newspaper and had called several crane companies proposing that they rescue the cat in exchange for television news coverage. Frommer said he could get ABC to film it.

Bullock grumbled his disapproval. He was concerned that his fire truck would sink into the asphalt driveway. A crane certainly would present the same risk, he said.

Neighbor Sought Waiver

About 15 minutes later, Bullock retired his men and equipment.

Pena said the Fire Department couldn’t go ahead because Britz, the owner of the house, wanted the city to sign a waiver relieving him of liability in case of injury and promising to pay for any damage to his property.

Pena said a city employee could not sign a waiver.

Then Easterby, the “Tree Man,” returned in a large truck. He had rigged a plywood platform that he was going to attach to the top of the truck with eye bolts. He said he was going to tie the ladder into the eye bolts and climb the tree. He planned to climb to the top of the tree and let himself down with a rope, just the way he would trim it.

Easterby knocked at the Britz door and was signing another waiver when Pena hollered out:

“Hold it. The Fire Department’s going to do it.”

City Attorney OKd Rescue

Pena said the city attorney had ruled that the Department of Animal Regulation could go on anyone’s property without permission to save an animal in distress and that the Fire Department, as its agent, could do the same. Frommer called the crane company and told them to forget it. Easterby sat down and sipped a soft drink.

At 1:40 p.m., a hook-and-ladder truck rumbled up the Britz driveway to within inches of the garage door.

The ladder went up. A gallery of friends and relatives of Elberts, firemen and news reporters, including the ABC camera crew that Frommer had promised, watched anxiously as Firefighter Dale Farnes, holding a noose on a pole, probed for almost 20 minutes into the dried palm fronds.

Finally he saw Wampie. Wampie retreated. Farnes pursued.

Then he leaned out and snatched the cat around the neck.

A cheer went up. Wampie was saved.

But it was only a so-so day for tradition.