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.
The plan worked, and the birds were able to fly to safety. There’s no word on how the tiny birds, which were swifts, ended up in the chimney.
