Australian firefighters watched by pet croc
Print Edition
FIREFIGHTERS who fought a blaze at a house in the tropical Australian city of Darwin yesterday contended with the added distraction of being watched by a 4-meter pet crocodile.
The fire destroyed the two-story house in the upscale suburb of Fannie Bay but did not harm the huge reptile, a female named Albert, which lives in a backyard enclosure, firefighter Bill Gleeson said.
“Thankfully the crocodile didn’t affect our operations at all,” Gleeson said.
“It’s well contained and clearly unaffected by fire. He seemed quite happy to look at me as I was protecting the premises,” Gleeson added.
The pet had been living at the property since before crocodiles became a protected species under federal law in the early 1970s.
Gleeson said there was no one in the house by the time firefighters arrived. The fire appeared to have been caused by a clothes iron that was mistakenly left switched on, a government statement said.
Authorities have not decided whether the croc will have to be moved.
The householder Helen Haritos told Australian Broadcasting Corp a year ago that her father George Haritos captured Albert in a Northern Territory river in 1958 for someone who requested a croc at a party but no longer wanted one after sobering up.
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