Arizona man sentenced for shooting at firefighters who refused to remove his cat from a tree.

KINGMAN, Ariz. (AP) - April 18, 2007 - A man who shot at firefighters after they refused to get his cat out of a tree has been sentenced to five months in jail.

Jeffrey Francis Cullen, 59, of Kingman, reported a tree fire on Aug. 17. Once the three-person crew arrived, Cullen told them he wanted his cat rescued from the tree.
Hualapai Valley Fire Department spokeswoman Sandy Edwards said a battalion chief told Cullen to call animal control or to wait for the cat to get hungry and come down.

The response apparently incensed Cullen, who retrieved a small handgun from his home and came out shooting.

The firefighters fled, taking with them a 12-year-old boy who had come to see their fire truck. Nobody was shot.

Cullen admitted to deputies after his arrest that he had been drinking.

Cullen was ordered on intensive probation for five years as part of his sentence, handed down Friday.

He had faced up to three years and six months on each count, which would have been served concurrently.

The prosecutor wanted more prison time.

"The state's position is that if it's the first time or the 20th time, prison is appropriate," Lee Jantzen said.