World of the Bizarre

'Angry' tortoise sets owner's house on fire

By T.K. Randall
December 28, 2019

Image: Giant Tortoise
Credit: Yotcmdr / (PD) Firefighters were called out to a house in the small town of Great Dunmow, England on Christmas Day to tackle a blaze that had started while the owner was away from home.

As it turned out however, there was someone in the house in need of rescue - a 45-year-old tortoise who, as it happens, was also the prime suspect in the mystery of how the fire started.

"The fire started after the tortoise knocked a heat lamp onto its bedding, which then caught alight," said Great Dunmow Fire Station watch manager Gary Wain."This tortoise has had a very lucky Christmas Day - he is 45 years young and will now hopefully continue to live a long and happy life thanks to working smoke alarms."

The fortunate reptile has since earned himself something of an irate reputation thanks to a photograph showing him looking rather angry after being rescued by firefighers.

This 45 year old tortoise might look angry but it's his lucky day. After he set his bedding alight his neighbour heard the smoke alarm and called us. Our on-call crews left their families to go extinguish the fire and gave him a very merry Christmas ➡️ https://t.co/xkk3QsXwGT pic.twitter.com/L3v8fFlu0p

— Essex Fire Service (@ECFRS) December 25, 2019

Source: Huffington Post

Tags: Tortoise, Fire