Arizona Firefighters Get Snake-Handling Lesson

    March 26, 2004
    An ill-tempered rattler that turned up in the back yard of a Foothills has given some firefighters their baptism by fire, so to speak.
    Photo by Alfred J. Hernandez
    This rattlesnake was removed from a Foothills residence Wednesday by Rural/Metro Fire Department.
    This rattlesnake was removed from a Foothills residence Wednesday by Rural/Metro Fire Department.
    An ill-tempered rattler that turned up in the back yard of a Foothills home Wednesday has given some firefighters their baptism by fire, so to speak.

    Firefighters from the Rural/Metro Fire Department snared the 3-foot-long Western Diamondback rattlesnake without incident after being summoned to the residence by a caretaker who encountered the venomous reptile while doing yard work.

    The snake was being held in a box at the department's Foothills substation later in the day Wednesday, and was to be released in the desert

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