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1,000 birds got stuck in a Calif. home s fireplace, and it s every bit as horrific as that sounds
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The fireplace at the Montecito home, after the removal of around 1,000 trapped birds.Montecito Fire
In a nightmarish scene that would make Hitchcock proud, upwards of one thousand birds got stuck in a fireplace in a Montecito, Calif., home last weekend. Every day is different in the fire service! the Montecito Fire Department said in a statement. Sunday night, your Montecito firefighters were called to a home where about 1,000 small birds had become trapped in the chimney.
California firefighters release 1,000 small birds that were trapped in chimney
By Alexi Chidbachian
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - It looked like a scene out of a horror movie. A thousand small birds were trapped in a chimney of a house in Santa Barbara County.
Firefighters were called to a home in Montecito Sunday night and found about 1,000 small birds trapped in the chimney, the fire department said in a social media post.
Firefighters and staff with the Santa Barbara County Animals Services worked together to safely free the birds. They had hoped for the birds to fly out of the flue on their own overnight, but when they returned in the morning the birds were still trapped at the base of the fireplace.
/ One of the approximately one thousand swifts which was rescued from the chimney of a Montectio home
An estimated thousand swifts stuck in home chimney
Some South Coast firefighters and animal services workers teamed up for a very unusual rescue effort. An estimated one thousand small birds became trapped in the chimney of a home on Hermosillo Road in Montecito.
Many of them had come down the chimney into the fireplace, where they were trapped by the gate which covers it.
The first effort by the Montecito Fire Department was to open the chimney’s flue, but the birds didn’t take the hint. So, some Santa Barbara County Animal Services workers created a chute system to funnel the birds out of the fireplace through the house, and out of the home’s back doors.
Hundreds of birds freed from chimney in Montecito
Montecito Fire Department
Approximately 1,000 small birds were trapped in the fireplace of a Montecito home. (Photo courtesy Montecito Fire Department)
and last updated 2021-04-26 22:44:07-04
Hundreds of small birds trapped in the chimney of a Montecito home were freed Monday thanks to firefighters and Santa Barbara County Animal Services workers.
According to the Montecito Fire Department, crews were first called to the house in the 100 block of Hermosillo Rd. at about 8 p.m. on Sunday for a report that birds or bats were trapped in the chimney. Officials say about 1,000 small birds were trying to fly out of the chimney and into the home but were blocked by the fireplace covering.
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