Firefighters in St. George, Utah, responded to a trailer-home fire on Thursday to find its distressed owner and his 19 distressed snakes inside. Not since Pee-Wee Herman rescued handfuls of garter snakes from a burning pet store in "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" has a more harrowing reptile rescue been attempted.

"We just knocked the fire down and then ventilated it and removed the animals as quickly as we found them," deputy chief Kevin Taylor said. The snakes, most of them pythons, ranged from 4- to 18-feet long and required two or three people at a time to carry them out.

As firefighters carted off the 11 snakes that survived the fire, owner Mark Knight tried in vain to resuscitate a 12th snake by massaging it and blowing into its mouth with a tube, which is exactly as weird as it sounds.

No fault was found in the fire, although a defective heat lamp in one of the snake's cages was discovered to be the culprit.

All reptile owners are advised to check the wattage and wiring of all heat lamps to prevent such incidents. They're also advised that owning lots of snakes will prevent any women from ever coming over to their places.