Crime & Safety

Tortoise Survives Garage Fire

Firefighters contain a fully involved garage blaze Saturday night on Aberdeen Avenue.

There's no breaking this shell.

A tortoise survived what officials are saying was an impressive garage fire Saturday night.

At 10:54 p.m., emergency crews responded to a report of a house fire at the 1000 block of Aberdeen Avenue, near Holmes Street.

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Firefighters saw a garage consumed by flames when they arrived, said Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Peters.

Crews also had to deal with a broken gas line and a live electical line near the garage when battling the blaze, Peters said.

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A beam collapsed in the garage during the fire and hit a bleach bottle, which splashed some of the liquid onto firefighters' face. Several firefighters were taken to ValleyCare hospital to get their eyes flushed with water.

In addition, two other firefighters suffered minor burn injuries.

Firefighters also were able to rescue a cat inside the home during the fire.

The blaze was knocked down within 25 minutes and damage to the house was contained to the garage and an attic, Peters said.

Crews stayed at the scene until 2:40 a.m. to clear the area and to determine a cause of the fire, which is still under investigation.

As for the tortoise?

While firefighters were trying to investigate the cause of the garage fire they came across a shell. The shell began to move when firefighters removed debris that had fallen on top of it.

"It's amazing anything could survive that fire," Peters said. "It was hot enough to burn two firefighters in full protective gear 35 feet away from it."


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