The soggy rodent had become stranded on a reed bed in the town centre pond. Concerned locals on the high street called the fire brigade to assist, in an operation that lasted 15 minutes and called for the use of a ladder.
One fireman even entered the water to coax the confused squirrel back on to dry land.
Local Hertfordshire MP Richard Harrington said the rescue seemed “very disproportionate”
“Serious questions will need to be asked if their deployment meant that other, more serious calls were not responded to.” said Harrington.
“The first call we received about this indicated that people were in the water,” explained Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.”
“The Fire and Rescue Service was concerned about their safety so sent the necessary crews to assist with what we understood to be a water rescue.”
“They’re a nuisance, they’re like rats, would you save a rat?” said BBC Three Counties radio host Iain Lee in conversation with the fire and rescue service.
“Three fire engines attended after a squirrel became stranded.” said a spokesman for Herts Fire and Rescue, according to The Sun.
The Sun’s daily ‘News in Briefs’ comment from their Page 3 girl concerned the dramatic squirrel rescue. Topless model ‘Danielle’ said “Six grand might sound like a lot of money, but it depends what value you put on a life. As philosopher Henry David Thoreau said, ‘The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.'”
Main image: Thinkstock
Great pics RT @hfrsphotography: Watford, Garston FF’s rescue squirrel from Watford Parade pond @ hertsfirephotos.weebly.com/squirrel-rescu… twitter.com/HFRSphotograph…
— Watford Observer (@Observer_Owl) January 6, 2013
Hahahahahahahahaha Watford is in the newspaper and on the radio because a squirrel was rescues from the duck pond twitter.com/GraceRussell11…
— Grace Russell (@GraceRussell11) January 8, 2013