As Sand Springs firefighters battled a house fire Monday afternoon, they quickly realized the flames weren’t the only peril they faced.
Firefighters found three venomous snakes out of their cages inside the house in the 4900 block of South 162nd West Avenue. The firefighters were forced to figure out how to remove the snakes from the house while battling the fire that engulfed the structure.
Deputy Chief Kyle Wayman said the firefighters were rescuing animals from the house when the owner told them the snakes were inside.
"We didn’t find any venomous snakes initially," said Wayman. "The crews were inside kind of doing some salvage and overhaul stuff, and they raised up a blanket to move something out of the way, and they saw a snake under there."
The firefighters found two Gaboon vipers and two rattlesnakes inside the house. But fortunately for the firefighters, there were no people inside, which gave them time to strategize.
"They were pretty close to the front door, so we kind of coordinated with the guy and showed him where the snakes were, and he could step inside just a little bit, and he pulled a few of them out for us," Wayman said.
Wayman said a pig died in the fire and two cats are unaccounted for, but that they saved a dog and a monitor lizard.
