You may have heard of firefighters helping get cats out of trees, but on Saturday, Langford Fire Crews had to deal with a much bigger animal.
Just before 11pm, Langford Fire responded to a call of a bear in a tree behind Langford City Hall
Fire Chief Chris Aubrey says when they arrived on the scene, the bear had been treed and tranquilized by BC Conservation Officers. A ladder truck was used to reach the beast, and it took two firefighters to safely bring the 160 pound female bear down to the ground.
"While we do train for rescues, it's not common for us to be able to man-handle a bear out of a tree and into our ladder truck. But the guys did a great job, and they were super thrilled that it had such a successful conclusion. Most of them realized that they won't probably have this happen again in their career, so they were pretty ecstatic to be called in and be able to help out."
Once back on solid ground, the young adult black bear was assessed and tagged by Conservation Officers. She was taken up island, and released back into the wild.
Aubrey says having a bear wander that far into town in unusual.
"Obviously we have Sooke Hills and Goldstream Park that immediately surround us, so there is a potential that some of our neighbourhoods that are closer to those areas could potentially have some interaction with wildlife. But to be in the centre of town is pretty unusual, and doesn't happen very often."
He adds that out of an abundance of safety, for both the bear and the public, the situation had to be handled quickly.
Aubrey goes on to say that as the West Shore expands, they will start encroaching on wild animal territory, and last month, they discussed this issue at the Protective Service's Meeting.
"Our bylaw enforcement is working with the West Hills community to find ways and do some education to make sure that we aren't designing the area and/or that the residents there aren't creating opportunities for bear/human conflict. So, making sure that food sources and compost are away from that area, and they aren't becoming an attraction."
He says while most of the animal encounters are located on the outskirts of town, and this was a rare scenario, everyone still needs to be bear aware.