A pet tortoise started a fire in a New York apartment after crawling out of its tank and knocking over a heat lamp.
Giovani, a six-year-old African tortoise was unharmed, but one firefighter and three police officers suffered smoke inhalation during the fire in Brooklyn.
The reptile tipped over his tank, sending his heat lamp crashing to the floor where it ignited a pile of art supplies, including paint thinner.
Within minutes, flames tore through the third-floor apartment that Giovani's owner Mohamed Salem, 18, an art student, shared with his family.
"The flames were shooting out of the top floor," said witness Kevin Caufield, 37.
Giovani was found by a firefighter in the kitchen and was rescued. Another turtle that lived in a water tank was killed, according to the New York Post.
"My wife was screaming, screaming, screaming for this one," said Salem's father, Ibrahim, 55, pointing at his son.
"And when the firefighters came out holding the tortoise, they told her they thought she was screaming for the tortoise!"
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