I seem to recall three instances of ferrets saving owners from fires over the years, but only recall detail on two. The first we heard of was reported by UFO early on when they were in one of the mid-Atlantic seaboard states but also seem to recall the FML existed at that point rather than one of its predicessors. That one happened in upstate N.Y. as memory serves and the ferret was not caged and behaved as Bill described, waking the owners by rousing them from sleep. The most recent also involved rousing from sleep but the ferret involved was caged and did so by screaming at the top of its lungs. Fires are not very common. Things like eating ear plugs, sponges, tub stoppers, erasers and so on are, ditto getting injured by couch or bed springs, falling badly and so on. We cage when they aren't supervised. Of course, our main cage IS now 2' by 2' by about 5' and stocked with diversions and levels. [Posted in FML issue 1944]