A Connecticut firefighter acted well in time and managed to put out most of the flames before a firefighting crew could reach the scene of a two-family house on fire. Dave VanWart, a 25-year-old landscaper and a firefighter by profession, used snow from the lawn to put out the fire. The incident happened last Thursday, when VanWart found a man standing outside his house and saying, "House fire, House fire," according to News Channel 8.

A fireman rescued a cooked hamster from a fiery oven after a woman placed the animal's cage on their cooker and switched it on by mistake. The pet hamster, called Christmas, was brought back to life in a miracle-like situation when his cage burst into flames. When firefighters arrived, Christmas was lying unconscious on his back with his severely burnt legs in the air and tongue hanging out. The firefighter acted promptly and gave Christmas a blast of oxygen and a few sips of the blackcurrant drink, Ribena.

The fire chief in West Sussex, England admits being embarrassed when a fire station in his district without a smoke alarm was engulfed in flames. The Arundel Fire Station in West Sussex, east of England, caught fire. The building and a fire engine was destroyed in the blaze which lasted for several hours.

Three wailing fire alarms failed to rouse a man from his slumber while his home burst into flames late Tuesday. Josh Coats, and Alabama native, slept through the initial spread of the fire, and was only jarred from his sleep by the piercing bark of his trusted best friend and pet, a 4-year-old English bulldog named Princess. "If Princess hadn't woke me up, I don't think I would have woken up," Coats said to reporters.

Dogs have been known as man's best friends for decades, and Jamie Hanson's 13-year-old dog, Jesse, has lived up to it. A specially trained golden retriever-German shepherd mix, Jesse, not only rescued her owner from fire but also tried to save the fellow pet, a cat, before dying of asphyxiation. Hanson, who had lost her leg in a car accident three years ago, was sitting in the couch watching television when the cat ran over the back of the couch and jumped onto a table, tipping a candle on it thereby lighting the artificial plants on fire.