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Liberal firefighters draw up a plan of attack to remove, not a cat, but a large trampoline from a tree Monday evening on Nelson after a storm passed through the area. The trampoline was originally in the back yard of a neighbor but ended up in a tree in Judy Barnes’ front yard. No one was injured in the freak incident. Courtesy photo
By LARRY PHILLIPS
• Leader & Times
Local residents are more than familiar with what high winds can do with lawn chairs and the like, but when one woman walked out her front door to her car at the curb after the storm Monday evening, she found something quite rare.
“I saw this steel pipe under the tree, and I picked it up and was wondering where it came from,” said Liberal resident Judy Barnes. “I was looking around and for some reason, I glanced up, and there it was.”
What Barnes discovered was a large trampoline, mostly intact, hanging from tree limbs about 20 feet off the ground. She wasn’t quite sure what to do, so she got on the phone and called the non-emergency number for the fire department.
Firemen showed up and were also dumbfounded.
“They couldn’t believe it either,” Barnes said. “(Deputy Chief) Skeety (Poulton) said he had never seen anything like that in his years on the department.”
The trampoline actually came from a neighbor’s back yard and, apparently, flew up and over both houses, landing in her front yard tree.
“My neighbors are wonderful people, and I didn’t say anything about where it came from because I didn’t want them to feel bad,” Barnes said.
Barnes felt uneasy even calling the firemen out, she said because she knows they have more serious things to attend to.
“They are a very special group of people,” she said. “Strong, brave, a courageous group. They are willing to help people at the level of their need. Each time they go to work, they never know what they will encounter – fires, medical emergencies, other life endangering situations.”
She was especially glad it was lowered to the ground considering another wind storm came through the area Tuesday.
“I hope they (the firemen) heard the applause from all the neighbors when the trampoline came down,” Barnes said. “I add my applause for their excellent work.
“They are there for all of us, and they deserve great respect and appreciation. May they be greatly blessed for their unselfish service,” she added.
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