And some of us thought it might be a day off for you at blog central...
Another wonderful use of Portlandia's resources!

It's getting harder and harder to justify the Portland Fire & Rescue budget unless "calls for service" remain higher than last year.

C'mon man they have to do something to earn that holiday pay!!

Does anyone know if that's one of the $400,000 boats or is THIS one of the expensive ones?

I'd rather see these guys rescuing mischievous cats than beating down mentally-ill humans.

If it were my dog stuck - I'd be very thankful for the help. Good job guys.

I spent four years in the U.S. Coast Guard and wasted a lot of tax dollars on foolishness like this. Pathetic!

I think we may have unintentionally stumbled upon a microcosm example of the problem with all layers of government.

Portland Fire & Rescue gets some 65,000 "calls for service" each year (nearly 200/day) and staffs accordingly. The problem is, MOST of these calls are unnecessary, the firefighters know it, the politicians know it, the taxpayers know it, and the Willamette Week knows it.

Read WW 9/26/12 "BURNING MONEY" :
http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-19705-burning_money.html
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"But a consultant’s report the city commissioned last year found Portland firefighters are underworked and less effective than their peers in comparable cities. Even the story of Champ the kitten underscored the layers of time and money the bureau has on hand: Truck No. 2 was joined by a $700,000 heavy rescue squad vehicle from downtown, a $600,000 engine and a chief officer that responded to the call at Northeast 118th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard. In all, 13 highly trained firefighters hovered over the cat rescue, which took six hours."
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To some, no expense, risk, waste or overreaction is enough. SOME (like Sal) can't even distinguish between the Police and Fire Bureaus.

Years ago, I sat on the citizen's advisory committee for the city auditor. And the unit of work measure for many of these "complaint driven" bureaus was similar to the "calls for service" model that encourages this waste.

"Banging on side of open tuna can...59 cents". "Calling a half million dollar piece of emergency equipment with a half dozen highly trained personnel that cannot do anything the homeowner cannot do...PRICELESS... really PRICELESS."

We cannot afford it but there is no sensible person willing to say so. But there are so many that say, "MORE, MORE, MORE...." After all, "It's for the kittens...".

Is this a silly call? Yes.

But you know what? This is government working for the ordinary citizen.

It isn't another pet project. It isn't wasteful handouts. It isn't a backroom deal. It isn't placating a special interest. It isn't shoving anyone's idea of anything, down anyone's throats. It's government responding to a call for help.

It might be a half million dollar truck, but that $600,000 truck wasn't purchased exclusively for one call. That truck gets used every day. It isn't a F-15 on a "training run" to do a flyover of a sporting event where the participants had to pay $70 to attend. It isn't a Coast Guard or Army National Guard helicopter, having to fly out to rescue some foolish hipster surfer or mountain climber that went out unprepared for the conditions they willingly went out into.

I'll gladly pay for a fire department to help out Joe Citizen, versus a City Council that gives out millions to developers or light rail contractors, or the Bicyclist's Terrorism Alliance, or attracting failed businesses with sweetheart relocation deals. This represents what government should do - help the ordinary citizen.

The Captain of this Fire Boat should be the Mayor of Portland. Thanks, for a job well done.

How can we tell if the job was wel done if we don't see the rescued cat?

In the interest of fair and balanced:
It doesn't cost much more to bring all those people and equipment to the river than it does to keep them in the fire station.
The fire guys would earn the same if they stayed in the house and napped or watched football. The FD does these goodwill runs for the community relations value, and thus can count on the community for a higher degree of cooperation and support than other city agencies get.
Yes, it is a waste, and no one mentioned that with all the shift covering gimmicks in the bureau some of these people are probably on overtime.
But who called them? No doubt someone who felt it was too much of a strain to get that tuna can out.

If I am reading this correctly, the cat wasn't stuck.

Sorry,a poor judgement call.