A kitten found himself stuck in a White City tree 40 feet in the air for three days — until Fire District No. 3 came to his rescue Sunday morning.

Neighbors living near the tall, skinny arbor vitae tree had been hearing incessant, pathetic meowing for several days when they decided to call for help, said Capt. Aaron Backus, who was filling in as battalion chief when the call came in.

“We got our ladder truck out of Central Point, and once they got over there, they got a firefighter up there and wrangled ’em down,” he said.

Firefighter student Owen Bosewell volunteered to go up the ladder and rescue the frightened kitten, but he made sure to put on his turnout gear first just to be safe.

“You never know when they’re going to claw your face off,” Backus said.

After bringing the kitten back to terra firma, firefighters canvassed the neighborhood looking for its home. They learned it had none and was a stray born nearby.

“My wife called her sister — she is quite the cat lady — and she agreed she would take it,” Backus said.

The kitten now has a home and a name, Hugo. For over 24 hours after his rescue, Hugo continued to meow in distress. He was “quite disturbed” by his experience, Backus said.

Saving cats from trees isn’t an uncommon request. Backus estimates his fire department receives calls like this around once a month.

“People see a cat in a tree and think, ‘Oh, I’ll just call the fire department,’ and most of the time they’ll come out on their own, but sometimes they really do get stuck,” he said.

Poor Hugo, stuck 40 feet in the air in a skinny species of tree at such a tender age, was truly in need of assistance and, Backus added, neighbors also expressed gratitude to no longer hear frightened meowing from above.