First responders see an unusual proportion of calls

These calls add variety to the life of a first responder in rural southern Idaho.

“That’s the fun part of this job,” said Jerome Police Chief Duane Rubink. “Every day is different and you have a lot of variety.”

Les Kenworthy, chief of the Twin Falls Fire Department, has dozens of stories, many of them humorous, of out-of-the-ordinary calls she’s handled during her 45-year firefighting career.

“I could go on and on,” Kenworthy said, relating some of his tales to the Time-News.

First responders don’t always have the resources to help with all of life’s little emergencies, but they do what they can.

One such call came in a week ago to the Jerome Police Department. It was a Saturday morning, and a horse was in trouble, on its back in a three-foot ditch and unable to get up.

It wasn’t long before police officers and sheriff’s deputies, as well as neighbors and a city employee, were moving dirt, pulling belts, providing equipment and exerting whatever horsepower they could muster to save the equine

The vets could not come immediately and the horse was suffering.

A couple of hours later, the horse was free, and after resting for about 20 minutes, it finally got up.

“He was tired,” explained Ronnie Hendriks of the city’s public works department, who helped with the rescue by providing a backhoe to carefully move the 1,000-pound animal.

This story did not have a happy ending as it seemed at first. After a vet visit that afternoon, it was determined that the aged horse had suffered internal injuries, and it was decided that it was best to humanely euthanize the horse.

It was a disappointment to many. Sometimes stories don’t always end the way we want them to.

“It’s a shame,” Hendriks said upon learning the horse’s fate. “I thought he got it.”

If it’s any consolation, the horse, named “Count,” lived a good, long life, said Megan Jacobson, who helped with the rescue.

Despite the less-than-ideal outcome, people were willing to go out of their way to help someone, even though it wasn’t their official duty.

“Jerome PD was helpful and deserves credit,” Jacobson wrote Time-News. “We give the police so many problems to solve that they’re not really trained.”

Rubink said his officers do everything they can to help because they love the community.

“I’d put them up against anybody,” he said.

But there may be limits to what can be done in a growing community with limited resources. Firefighters stay busy while on calls and completing training and working on other projects, Kenworthy said.

He admits to rescuing cats from trees, a common stereotype of firefighters who go the extra mile to help.

But with the ladder trucks costing $2 million, the department has to be selective about which calls it can respond to. And resources need to be available in case the department receives a call involving a life-or-death emergency.

Cat rescues by the department only happen when there is a “terrible” emergency, Kenworth said.

Calls involving guys stuck in trees might be a different story. In March 2022, a couple of boys were playing in a playground when one decided to climb a tree. He climbed 25 feet and then found he couldn’t get back down.

Because of how far the boy was from the tree, the department sent a ladder truck to retrieve him. He was rescued without injury.

When it comes to animals, there are often others who can handle the situation better, Kenworthy said.

Instead, the department can refer a caller to people who can provide the service, such as a tree trimmer who has access to a bucket truck.

Lori Stewart, spokeswoman for the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office, said someone called one time about a groundhog in the engine compartment. The sheriff’s office referred them to a pest control company.

But first responders still respond to many unusual calls while doing their best to serve the public.

Firefighters recently responded to a call of a person trapped in the attic. The ladder he was using to climb it fell and the person’s son was not strong enough to put it back up.

“They didn’t have another option,” Kenworth said, “so we responded to that.”

Another time, firefighters helped free a cow that was stuck in the mud.

Stewart recounted many instances where deputies had encounters with mischievous animals. They once had to scare off an unusually tame deer that came into a house and started eating a pair of shoes.

Once, the owners thought a thief was hiding under a bed. It turned out to be the family dog. In another case, emergency dispatchers could hear breathing when answering a call to 911. Yes, it was a dog that somehow pressed the right buttons on a phone.

Twin Falls deputies also participated in a horse rescue, Stewart said, when a horse fell into a cistern.

But not only curious animals can generate a reason for alarm. Kids do it too.

There have been a lot of kids getting their heads stuck in stair railings, Kenworthy said.

His head goes through the spindles just fine, but when the boy tries to pull it back, “their ears get stuck,” he said. It is quite similar to the situation of a person who helped the fire department who got his hand stuck in a photocopier when he tried to clear a paper jam.

As for detaching the ends of stair railings, there are tools firefighters can use to separate the shafts, “either a large wrench or a power tool,” he said.

And with the right touch, the child is released, bringing smiles to the parents who minutes before were trapped, not knowing what to do.