MONROE, N.C. — A North Carolina firefighter said he had a first day right out of a sitcom.

New firefighter Wyatt Brown rescued a cat in a tree on his first full day on the job, a situation so cliché he assumed he was being pranked.

“It was something that you don’t think is going to actually happen, for a lot of people it doesn’t happen. But of course, my first shift, I get called to one,” Brown said through laughter.

Brown climbed 16 feet to rescue the kitten, reuniting it with its young owner.

“When we got there we saw probably 10 kids, looking up a tree, and we found out that it was going to be a cat in a tree,” Brown recalled.

Brown, a former United States Marine, said joining his hometown Monroe Fire Department was a childhood dream come true.

“Everything about it, I’ve never enjoyed something so much in my life,” Brown said about the new job. “Every day I come to work I’m excited to come. You get to get here, and make breakfast for everybody, have that camaraderie and get to help people every day.”

Brown joined this summer, saying he was looking for the same feeling of brotherhood. It was something he was proud to do, as he says a less stressful career after the Marines was never his calling.

“At the end of the day, I feel like I’ve always had a servant’s heart. And, I want to make sure the community I’m living in has got the help it needs,” Brown added.

Brown served in the Marine Corps for two and a half years before returning home to Monroe. He began his tenure as a full-time firefighter in September.