MORE than 40 tortoises were rescued from a Suffolk home yesterday afternoon following a small fire in a cellar.

MORE than 40 tortoises were rescued from a Suffolk home yesterday afternoon following a small fire in a cellar.

The animals, which were believed to have been rescued themselves by their owners, were caught up in the blaze in Belle Vue Road, Sudbury.

Fire-fighters were called to the incident at about 3.15pm and found the huge number of pets. About a quarter of the tortoises were taken to a local veterinary surgery and it is thought that two perished in the flames.

John Bromley, sub-officer at Sudbury Fire Station, used the incident to highlight the importance of smoke alarms after the homeowners were alerted to the blaze and the majority of the tortoises were rescued.

Two crews from Sudbury were called to the fire, which was extinguished by a man living at the property before fire-fighters arrived.

Mr Bromley said: “Although the cellar fire had been extinguished on arrival, we sent in two teams to investigate and found more than 40 tortoises.

“It was slightly unexpected but the residents had a number of rescued animals including dogs, cats and even chinchillas. The fire started from a mobile light fitting.

“The smoke alarm went off in this case and we would like to highlight the importance of having alarms fitted and working properly.”

The owners were too upset to talk about the incident last night.