I haven't been feeling very well, so today I laid down for a nap. About an hour later I started smelling smoke. My neighbors have been bbq-ing a lot lately, so I just figured it was them. The smell got stronger and stronger, so I finally got up and closed all my windows. Many of my tortoises were already outside since the weather has been so nice, so I went to bring in my Hermann's hatchlings, and I noticed it didn't smell smoky outside - which I thought was weird but then I've been a little slow lately! When I opened the tortoise room door - smoke hit me in the face! The whole room was full of smoke - one of the electrical cords from the lights was smoldering and a piece of wood I was using to keep the lamp anchored to was on fire. I seriously panicked and ran around like an idiot. I put the fire on the wood out, unplugged everything, got the window open and turned on the ceiling fan. Then I started grabbing everyone I could. It was so thick and horrible in there! I was wearing a full skirt, so I lifted it up and threw all my babies is there, ran out and dumped them on the lawn. I just kept running back and forth doing this until I got everyone out. In the meantime I was choking and gagging from all the acrid smoke. I couldn't even breathe - I can't imagine how awful it was for the poor tortoises. By the time I finished I went into a full blown asthma attack and had to go the hospital for a breathing treatment. Losing everyone like that is my worst fear! What a bad day, but we all survived thank God!