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Firefighters resuscitate albino rat, 4 cats after Idaho blaze

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updated 1:35 p.m. ET June 20, 2007

POCATELLO, Idaho - Firefighters resuscitated four cats and an albino rat from a charred apartment in southeastern Idaho.

The animals received oxygen through a special mask designed for small animals that the department got two years ago.

Electrical failure likely caused the fire, which resulted in at least $10,000 in damage, fire officials said. No people were injured.

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Firefighter Kirby Jonas, who whisked the rat to safety, said he was astonished anything survived the flames that engulfed the apartment. He found the rat huddled in blackened bedding in a cage.

“If I were betting money, I would have put down $10,000 that anything in that cage was dead,” Jonas said. Also in the room was a poster of an albino rat with a halo over its head, he said.

One cat didn’t survive the blaze.