Rescue Group Wants To Get Kittens Saved From Fire Off The Streets

After firefighters rescued a group of kittens from a burning woodpile, another group of rescuers hopes to save them from the streets.

Viral helmet camera footage of Turlock firefighter Dale Medlen rescuing four tiny kittens made numerous headlines this week. The fire department posted the dramatic video on Facebook Monday, after the Turlock Fire Department responded to a report of a burning woodpile that appeared to house the kittens.

After cleaning and drying off the kittens, firefighters felt it best to leave them near the scene with their mother.

"Turlock firefighters ensured that the mother made contact with the kittens so that she could nurse and care for them," the department told The Huffington Post in a statement. "We are confident she took them to a safer location to be cared for. The kittens did not appear to be injured, only stunned by the incident."

The department added that emergency responders were “extremely confident with the well being and happiness of the purring kittens” and returned later to find that the cats seemed to have found a new place to live.

It’s unclear if the cats were strays or ferals. Stray cats are homeless cats that are socialized to humans, while ferals are domestic cats that have reverted to a wild state, meaning they can almost never be kept as domestic pets. Feral kittens, however, can usually be socialized to people if they are younger than 12 weeks.

But if the kittens' mother was feral, turning the animals in to the city shelter could have been a death sentence. The City of Turlock is legally not allowed to turn away any animal brought in. They work with local rescue groups to adopt out animals, but since truly feral cats are fearful and aggressive in cages, they often wind up euthanized.

The trap-neuter-return program in surrounding Stanislaus County excludes the city of Turlock. But a local cat advocacy group is now trying to help the kittens that won so many hearts online, said Monica Barker of the Cat Network of Stanislaus, a feral cat nonprofit.

“We will try to go out in this area … and see if we can find the little family and we will get them into a foster home,” Barker told HuffPost in an email. If it turns out that the mother is truly feral, she will be released, Barker added.