MICHIGAN FIREFIGHTER SAVES 7 FOOT LONG SNAKE FROM FIRE

No one really wanted to go back inside the burning Michigan house to rescue a giant snake named Chocolate Chip.  Not the pet’s owner and not the firemen who gathered outside the smoldering Muskegon home.   Firefighter Scott Hemmelsbach finally said he’d do it.

 

He had some experience in handling snakes.  Inside the two-story house, Hemmelsbach found the 8-pound boa constrictor’s terrarium in the smoky living room.  Its "face was pushed up on the screen and trying to get out,” the firefighter told the Muskegon Chronicle.  The fireman removed the screen, came at the snake from behind, squeezed its neck with one hand and grabbed the rest of Chocolate Chip with the other.

 

In high school, as part of wildlife classes, he routinely handled snakes, Hemmelsbach said. “That didn’t bother me at all.” 

 

Owner Bridget Brewer, who lived at the house with her husband, calls the massive serpent her “baby.”  And she’s beyond happy that her 6-year-old snake is safe and sound.  “I’m elated they saved her. She’s alive. We thought she would be dead, toast,” Brewer said Monday, according to the paper.

 

After running to safety from her burning home, Brewer said she was going to go back for Chocolate Chip, but thought better of it when she saw how fast the fire was spreading.  “I knew it was stupid. It was either her or me. I chose me,” she said.  

See picture of firefighter with snake - http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/mich-firefighter-saves-7-foot-pet-boa-constrictor-house-blaze-article-1.1741586

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