Fire kit stolen during baby goat rescue is returned

Fire kit stolen during the rescue of a baby goat has been returned after a community effort to track it down.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said their 'Police Slow' signs and blue flashing Pulsar lights had been stolen.

The crew from Cheddar fire station were rescuing the animal in Cheddar Gorge after it had become trapped in wire netting when the kit was taken, at about 20:00 BST on Tuesday.

It was all returned within 48 hours, after a social media post received almost 1,000 shares and plenty of interaction from the local community.

The equipment was put out at the scene to alert other road users that fire crews were working in the vicinity.

"In places, such as the gorge, where there are lots of blind bends, the last thing road users want to see is a large fire appliance parked in the road with no warning," the Facebook post read.

"Our equipment is expensive to replace and is there to serve a purpose, to keep our crew and the public safe."

They added that "on a positive note", they were able to successfully free the baby goat and reunite it with its family.

Ian Woolley, crew manager at the station, said the team received an outpouring of "positive and supportive comments" after posting the appeal for information.

"There is a huge amount of goodwill within the local community to the work that we do as a fire and rescue service, both across Devon and Somerset and as a local station," he said.

"We received an offer from a sign company offering to supply us with a replacement sign free of charge, plus a local business offered to pay for the equipment to be replaced if it was not recovered."

The kit was soon returned to the station after residents saw the thieves showing off the stolen equipment in a local pub, and alerted the fire crew.

"As retained firefighters, all crew need to work or live within five minutes of the station and are very much part of the community that they are serving," Mr Woolley said.

He said this helped when asking the public for help, because the community came out in full force to "support their own".

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