Twentynine Palms firefighters rescued a snake in an elevator Wednesday morning. County Fire Battalion Chief Mike Snow said at the time of the call, the snake, estimated to be about 1 to 1-1/2 foot long, was inside the exterior elevator, but by the time firefighters arrived, the snake had slithered out a crack in the door and fell to the bottom of the elevator pit. Rescuers sent the elevator to the second floor, and then turned off the power while they rescued the reptile. After opening the elevator door on the first floor, they used a collapsible ladder to descend down into the elevator pit. The snake had crawled inside a discarded pipe, and so Firefighter/Paramedic Nathan Easley put one end of the pipe into a pillowcase and shook the snake into the case. The gopher snake was then released into the desert.
