This from Melbourne made our news here, so thought I'd post it.
From The Times
July 25, 2008
David Byers
Pet rabbit hops to rescue to save owners from fireA pet rabbit has been credited with saving an Australian couple from a fire that started in their house while they slept. The rabbit woke its owners, Michelle Finn and her partner Gerry Keogh, by scratching on their bedroom door when smoke poured through the house in the Macleod area of Melbourne.
“Gerry only got home from work about 5.30 because he works a night shift and about 7am we both woke to the sound of a thumping rabbit,” Ms Finn told The Age newspaper in Melbourne. “We heard windows breaking at the back of the house and got up to see what was wrong and the house was on fire.”
Neighbours arrived with hoses to help before fire crews arrived. Firefighters said that a smoke alarm had been removed while the house was being renovated.
Ms Finn said that the pet, named Rabbit, was allowed to roam freely around the house unless they had guests. “It was very lucky for both of us,” she said. “I don’t think he was very impressed .”
The fire caused A$80,000 (£39,000) of damage and ruined two years of renovations, which the couple had just completed.
Mick Smith, a commander for the Metropolitan Fire Service in Melbourne, said that Rabbit had played a crucial role in preventing a tragedy. “The rabbit saved the couple,” he said.
Mr Keogh, a nightclub employee, said that although he and Ms Finn faced the difficult task of rebuilding, Rabbit had also been left homeless by the fire, which ruined his cage.
Pet rabbit a fire hero
Article from: AAP
July 24, 2008 12:00am
A QUICK-THINKING bunny, named Rabbit, has saved a Melbourne couple from a devastating house fire.
Rabbit's owner Gerry Finn had been home from night shift only 30 minutes when he heard the black rabbit furiously scratching at the bedroom door about 6am today.
Give "Rabbit" a better name
He was shocked to discover it had alerted him to a blaze rapidly spreading through the back of his Macleod home, in Melbourne's north.
Smoke blackened the inside of the house, and flames destroyed part of the roof.
Neighbours pitched in with hoses to save the house before four fire crews arrived to extinguish the blaze.
Six days from completing a painstaking two-year renovation, the couple was stunned but relieved to have escaped the fire without injury.
Wife Michelle said Rabbit had alerted them in the nick of time.
"We were both asleep. It was very lucky for both of us," she said.
Rabbit is usually happy to roam around the house, only locked in a cage when guests arrive, she said.
"He's just sort of an inside pet but I don't think he was very impressed," Mrs Finn said.
"We've been renovating for two years - we started with a disaster, and now this.
"All that hard work gone."
A jewellery-maker, Michelle's tools and jewels were also lost in the fire.
Fire investigators believe a heater may have sparked the blaze.
A smoke alarm had been removed from the back room ceiling while the room was painted.
Metropolitan Fire Brigade commander Mick Swift said the couple owed their escape to Rabbit.
But, he said, home renovations should be no barrier to fire safety.
"The lesson to learn from this is that even if a smoke alarm is removed it can still be put high up on a shelf," he said.
Rabbit miraculously survived 45 minutes of heat and smoke inhalation before alerting his owners.
The six-month-old bunny will visit the vet for a check-up later today.
