Oh, gosh, there have been at least 3 cases in which ferrets alerted
people to fires, but I haven't heard of one in quite a while.  There
was one reported in the earliest issues of UFO (the first UFO) before
it moved to New England.  It may be that if you can track down the
person in Massachusetts that he may have a copy.
 
I know there was at least one in the newspapers after that which folks
mentioned on the FML but I do not know if they were in the early issues
that aren't in the Archives at
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html .
Off hand, I couldn't find them so they may have been too early to be in
the archives or I may just have missed them, though I did see other fire
related past posts which could interest you.  Meanwhile, a newspaper
search by a reference librarian may help bring up those situations in
which ferrets alerted people.
 
We might have our second early adrenal neoplasia individual in 21 years.
Right now we are watching Sherman closely because there is the chance
that his fur loss is mechanical combined with shed partly because it is
not as bilateral as is usually seen -- he's not clearly having a problem
per anyone's observations yet -- and he's fine so far, but it's very
possible that the sweet little guy may be having surgery soon if his
symptom becomes more clear or anything else happens.  He is about 3
years old now.
[Posted in FML issue 4104]