‘Angry’ tortoise, 45, rescued after starting house fire on Christmas Day

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By VT

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Christmas is a notorious time of the year for accidental house fires and animals having potentially fatal encounters with decorations.

Now, the latest casualty of this holiday season is an 'angry' tortoise, 45, who was rescued after staring a house fire on Christmas day.

Earlier this month, a woman risked her life to save a koala from a wildfire: 

As per Fox News, the unnamed angry tortoise was had a "very lucky Christmas Day" after it was rescued from the Essex, England, home it had set ablaze.

The incident began when the tortoise knocked a heat lamp onto its bedding, causing it to catch fire, Essex Fire and Rescue revealed in a statement on Wednesday.

Taking to Twitter, the department wrote: "This 45-year-old tortoise might look angry but it's his lucky day. After he set his bedding alight his neighbor 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."

According to officials, authorities were alerted around 5:00pm when neighbors heard the alarm. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they discovered smoke filing the home and a fire in one of the rooms.

But the BBC reported that the blaze was extinguished and the house smoke-free within just 25 minutes.

And let's just say that the picture of the tortoise has been quite the talking point on social media...

Watch Manager Gary Wain of the Great Dunmow Fire Station said: "This incident shows just how important it is to have smoke alarms on every level of your home - even if you're not home they will alert anyone close by to the first sign of fire."

"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," Wain added.