First Responder in Minnesota Adopts Kitten He Saved from a Fire

A Minnesota first responder not only saved one kitten's life, but also gave it a forever home.

In February, Coon Rapids Community Service Officer Eric Prindle responded to a grass fire that started at a homeless encampment in Coon Rapids, Minn. Upon arrival, a small injured kitten, who belonged to one of the people at the encampment, was found in the field.

“I went and looked at it and realized we need to get this thing care right away,” Prindle told FOX9 in an interview published on Monday, April 21.

He then took the cat, named JJ, to the Animal Humane Society in Coon Rapids to ensure he would survive his eye injuries and severe facial burns. JJ's whiskers and a portion of his ears were burnt off.

Prindle confessed that once he was driving to the Animal Humane Society, he thought to himself, “ ‘Please don’t be dead in my backseat,’ ” he told FOX9, adding, “And then I saw he was alive.”

“It was one of those situations where I was very concerned he wasn’t going to make it,” Animal Humane Society veterinarian Dr. Kate Farmer said. “He was kind of a long shot, but we wanted to give him a chance.”

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Throughout JJ’s recovery, Prindle continued to visit the kitten, because “he just touched me,” Prindle said.

Once JJ grew stronger, Prindle and his wife adopted the kitten and brought him into his new forever home, where “he’s adjusting real good,” Prindle said.

“Watching his progress through the whole thing was just amazing,” Prindle told FOX9.

JJ still needs ointment around his scars, but his whiskers are beginning to grow back, and he’s beginning to live life as a normal cat — and get along well with Prindle’s dog, Twinkie.

“It was amazing actually to see his remarkable capacity to heal and his emotional resilience to get through something that must have been awful,” Farmer said.