14 DAY TRIAL // A house fire in northern England has killed around 100 snakes, which for some reason were being kept in a personal residence.
The house in Boothwood Road in Rawcliffe York burnt down, after fire rescue crews managed to pull out a woman still inside.
The Mirror writes that the unidentified woman was the only person in the house. She may have been living in a guest house.
The Northern Echo detailed that firefighters responded to a call at the house at 12.20 p.m. on Tuesday. Four fire crews were dispatched and 20 firefighters participated in the effort to contain the blaze.
"Unfortunately a large number of snakes have been killed by the fire. The fire was extinguished by crews wearing breathing apparatus, using hose reel jets," a spokesperson for the North Yorkshire fire station states.
They found the woman trapped in a first-floor bedroom. She is stable as she has not suffered any critical injuries.
However, the house has been damaged in the fire and none of the snakes, some exotic species, has survived the incident.
"It caused heavy smoke damage to the whole property," the spokesman adds.
Station Manager Alan Bell originally assessed that the fire started in the kitchen. He now believes that its source was a room used exclusively for the reptiles. The fire department has found "no cause for the fire at this time."
"Glad to say she looks like she's going to be ok, but she has been taken to hospital for a check up.
"There was a serious fire on the ground floor in what appeared to be a kitchen to start with but turns out is actually a reptile room with a large number of various types and sizes of different snakes, all of which appear to have been killed in the fire," he says.