Firefighter hospitalized after Calif. garage fire

By Robert Salonga
The Contra Costa Times

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. — A firefighter went to the hospital for heat exhaustion from an early-morning fire today that burned a garage housing tortoises, which escaped slowly but surely, the Alameda County Fire Department said.

The single-alarm fire was reported at 3 a.m. at a detached garage in the 17400 block of Almond Road.

It was extinguished within 10 minutes. A firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion but was not seriously injured and was expected to be treated and released, officials said.

No one was occupying the garage when it caught fire, and the two African tortoises inside got out safely, the fire department said. It appears that a heating pad used to warm the animals and an extension cord that funneled power to the garage are the likely culprits for the fire, which caused about $50,000 in damage.

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