By Paola Iuspa-Abbott
Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Firefighters broke into a burning warehouse Sunday morning to find boa constrictors, pythons and other snakes slithering away from the heat and headed for the exit.
About 18 firefighters helped put out the fire about 1:30 a.m. in the 300 block of Northeast Fourth Street. The heat cracked the glass cases holding several of the reptiles and firefighters had to stop snakes from fleeing into the neighborhood, said Delray Beach Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Russ Accardi. The warehouse was used by a business that breeds and sells snakes, he said. About 100 reptiles were in the warehouse when the fire started.
“We warned all our people to be careful because we didn’t know if some of the snakes were poisonous,” Accardi said.
Accardi guarded the door to make sure snakes didn’t venture out. Other firefighters picked up boa constrictors and pythons that reached up to 17 feet long and 200 pounds to put them in cages. At one point, a firefighter rushed out of the warehouse with a boa constrictor wrapped around his arms and legs.
“I didn’t know if he had the snake under control or if the snake wrapped around him and he needed help,” he said.
Soon, Accardi realized the firefighter was in control.
“He picked the snake up to save its life,” he said.
An electrical short most likely caused the fire, Accardi said. The damage was estimated at $15,000, including the cost of the reptiles that died in the fire, he said.
Shortly after the incident, Delray Beach police contacted business owner Craig Bryant, who rushed to the scene. The building didn’t have the name of the businesses, and Bryant was identified from the delivery label of a package in the warehouse. Bryant met firefighters at the scene and retrieved his snakes, Accardi said.
Bryant could not be reached to comment Sunday afternoon.
Accardi said he knew of the snakes before going into the building, and warned his crew. A few months ago, his battalion extinguished a fire in the warehouse next door and entered the building that had snakes to make sure the flames hadn’t spread.
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