A strange happening in the night

Last night I found myself awakened from a deep sleep, momentarily wondering where I was and what was going on.   Through the curtain, the light seemed like the sun out, and as I became more awake I realized there were big trucks running out in the street.   I finally focused enough to look at the clock, and at 3:45 am, none of that seemed right.

I got up and looked out the window, and to my surprise I saw the street was blocked by fire vehicles, and most surprising of all, there was a ladder truck in front of my house, with floodlights on, and the ladder was pointed right at my house.

At that point it seemed like a good idea to find out what was going on, so I stumbled around in the dark until I could get dressed, and went outside.  In those few minutes, the firemen had already done what they had to do, and were starting to pack up.  

"What happened," I asked one of the firemen.

"Nothing," came his gruff reply.

I was still too sleepy not to accept that answer, so I just said "OK," and went back inside.   By the time I got back to my bedroom they were gone and the street was dead quiet, as it should be at that hour.   Now unable to fall asleep, I thought about it some more and realized they had been using the ladder to get to the tree in front of my house.  Something had been in that tree for months -- I assumed a kite, but wasn't really sure -- and now it was gone.

It seemed improbable that fire trucks had been called to remove a kite at 3:45 am.   But maybe it was something more than a kite, and maybe it had been deemed a hazard.  I also know they have to stay busy during down times, and they have to keep the equipment in use and stay in practice -- maybe fishing stuff out of trees in the dead of night is one of the ways they do that.