Firefighters in St. Petersburg hailed as heroes for administering oxygen to cat rescued from burning building

The old cliché of firefighters rescuing a kitty from a tree got an update last week, when rescuers in St. Petersburg pulled a cat from a burning apartment building, and then administered oxygen to the feline using a mask.

Photographs of three firefighters crouched around the frail animal have been enormously popular with Russian Internet users, who have celebrated the act of compassion and the men responsible for it.