Illness strikes down firefighters' feline queen

[Ian David]

By Gloria Negri, Globe Staff | August 4, 2007

She was born in an alley outside the Oliver Street firehouse, the only survivor of a litter. The firefighters found her when she was 5 weeks old, a scrawny tiger cat, with a mangled tail and one eye barely intact. They fed her and took her to a veterinarian who amputated her tail. They named her Maxine and gave her their hearts, as well as her own miniature condo, they made out of styrofoam and fleece. At the holidays she had her own Christmas tree.

Maxine, the diva of firehouse cats, died after a 21-year reign at Division I Fire Department Headquarters near South Station.

Also called Max or Maxie, the petite orange and gray cat was put to sleep Thursday after failing health and the ravages of age made that the only humane thing to do, Lieutenant John Forristall said yesterday.

Members of Engine 1 were mourning, particularly retired firefighter Robert Beals of Wellesley, who was around when she was found hiding in a concrete block in the old firehouse in 1986. She made fast friends even among firefighters who professed to not be cat lovers.


A photo of firehouse cat Maxine hangs at Division I Fire Department Headquarters. Her scratching posts and brush stand as memorials to her 21-year presence at the station. (DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF)

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/08/04/illness_strikes_down_firefighters_feline_queen/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+News


This would be an interesting sub-plot for the next season of "Rescue Me," wouldn't it?

Can you imagine Tommy getting all weepy over a cat? I can!