Pet Bird Rescue: Person Flags Down Fire Truck To Help

CHICAGO — While firefighters may have a reputation for dealing with kittens in distress, personnel from the Chicago Fire Department put their skills to the test Sunday to retrieve a pet bird stuck on a window ledge.

A video posted to Twitter by user "ChiTownCheese" at about 5 p.m. showed a brightly colored bird — which some commenters say could be a macaw — stranded on a window ledge outside the second floor of the Motorola Building on South Michigan Avenue.

Fire department officials said Truck 1 was returning to the station after paramedics were needed downtown when a person flagged down the crew. According to CFD, the person said the bird was a pet with clipped wings and therefore couldn't fly down on its own.

"The citizen asked for a ladder, and a crew member instead used a pole to assist getting the bird down," officials said.

In the video, the bird slowly perches on top of the fireman's hook before being lowered to street level. The crowd of nearly 30 people cheered once the pet was safe in a handler's arms.