Sure, blame the tortoise...

Sure, blame the tortoise. Officials say grumpy-looking reptile at fault for Christmas house fire in England

By Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 6:17 PM ET, Fri December 27, 2019



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The main suspect in the fire is a 45-year-old tortoise who appears a bit cranky.



(CNN)You'd think a 45-year-old would know better than to knock a hot object onto his bed.

But a grumpy-looking tortoise apparently named Victor is being blamed for doing that and starting a fire at his human's home in Duton Hill, Essex, in England.
Fire officials there say the tortoise knocked a heat lamp onto its bedding, which then caught on fire. The tortoise was unable to call 999, but neighbors heard smoke alarms and called emergency services.
Crews were on-call -- at home with their families -- and rushed to the station, then to the house.

They kept the fire to one room, and Victor, who must have stayed low to the ground in the smoke-filled home, was saved. And the fire was put out quickly.
A Christmas miracle!
"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 fire department proudly exclaimed on social media.
Among the comments on the fire department's Facebook page were a couple from Elyse Steel Sowerby, who said the creature is hers.
He "goes by the name of VICTOR I am extremely grateful of all the crews hard work xxx," she wrote. Later she added, "I honeslty dont know what I would do with out him he really is my best friend your team are amazing merry Christmas xxx."
The department replied: "Ahh we should have guessed as much! You are more than welcome - we are just glad to have helped you get a happy ending this Christmas."


It also confirmed to another commenter the fire began when a heat lamp met hay.
The tortoise was unavailable for comment.

This incident serves as a great safety reminder to always make sure lamps (& other appliances) cannot be knocked over by our pets. So glad this didn't turn out worse...owner (& tortoise) was very lucky!

The turtle looks like he knows that the police know what he did...

Wow! No mention of the owners of the tortoise being irresponsible and putting in motion the the factors that led to the fire. Inaccurate reporting/ journalism. The owners, the owners, the owners!