Pet owners calling on the fire service to rescue their cats - or even their pythons- are now set to be charged for the privilege by North Yorkshire's force.

If the move gets the go-ahead on Wednesday, distressed callers wanting an animal rescued, a chimney stack made safe or a flooded cellar pumped out will now have to stump up at least £100 for the service.

Members of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service want to raise more cash to maintain their essential fire cover, because of budget strains, and expect the charges to raise an extra £20,000, which they hope most people will be able to claim under their insurance policies.

Rescuing animals is one of the service's more high profile roles, but in reality only two or three cats are rescued from trees by the boys in black every year according to chief fire officer Eric Clark, and they only attend at the request of the RSPCA.

Probably the weirdest job firefighters have had to tackle in the last year was Acomb fire station's call out to rescue Paul Bickerdike's pet python Priscilla, from the back of a gas fire.

Firefighter Kevin Webb had to dismantle the fire to retrieve the four-foot snake.

Sub officer Malcolm Dunford, from Acomb Fire Station, said more common than that was rescuing farm animals.

"The really pleasant ones are when cows fall into slurry pits - it usually means someone has to jump into the slurry pit, feed a line round the animal then pull it out!"

Mr Clark said 20 per cent of the fire service's call-outs were non-fire incidents and these would now be divided into two categories.

Emergencies where people's lives are at risk would still be attended free of charge, even though the fire service only receives Government money to attend fires and incidents where fires are likely to start.

Some other services had always attracted a charge, decided on an individual basis, like filling swimming pools and pumping out flooded buildings - now the charges would be extended.

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