Firestarter: House Ablaze As Two Pet Tortoises Start A Fire
Two pet tortoises are in a heap of trouble after virtually burning down their owner’s house after knocking over a heating lamp.
Dinky and Toby, the said pet tortoises, were rescued by firefighters wearing breathing masks to protect them from the smoke. Now it’s going to cost their owners a fortune to fix all the damage in the house in Fordingbridge, Hants, England.
The Salisbury Journal quotes one of the firefighters, Pete White, as saying whilst obviously they were used to fighting fires, they had never had to deal with tortoises before.
“The whole house was full of smoke and there was a reasonable fire going in the room.
“It is a first for the crew – we have never had to deal with tortoises before.”
While the tortoises (not the romantic couple pictured above, by the way) were the culprits in the whole thing, White did visit the pet tortoises after the event to find out if they were OK.
“I popped back round to see them and the owners have taken them to the vets and say they are all fine.”
He added that residents in the area are reminded to ensure that their homes have smoke alarms and that they are fitted correctly and checked regularly. He should probably have added that any fire-related appliances should be kept away from pet tortoises too.
Two tortoises start fire in Fordingbridge http://t.co/aHrZwAK6rz #salisbury
— Salisbury Journal (@journalupdate) May 1, 2015
The owners prefer to remain anonymous, but they told the firemen that the pet tortoises were pretty old. Toby has been with the family since the 1950s and they apparently got Dinky over 25 years ago.
According to the Mirror, while the cost of repairing the smoke-ruined rooms will be high, the family are relieved that their pet tortoises survived the experience, but now they have a further problem. They now need to convince the insurance company that the fire was actually started by one of the tortoises.
It is unclear whether the owners were home at the time that the fire started. If not, possibly it is a risky business to leave a heating lamp burning while out of the house.
Speaking of trusty animal pairs, the Inquisitr recently reported on a pair of parrots who were caught up in a house fire. Firefighters were urgently fighting the blaze, as they could hear what they thought were people yelling, “Help! Fire!” inside the home.
Once the flames were doused it turned out to be the two parrots instead, uncannily picking just the right words for the occasion.
[Image: Romantic tortoises CC BY-ND 2.0 Tambako The Jaguar]
