THE house was razed and all that's left were ashes and burnt iron sheets and concrete walls at Purok 6, Litsonan, Pag-asa Barangay 5-A Bankerohan, Tuesday, December 5.

But amid the flurry of residents rushing around the burnt remains of houses that still emitted the scorching heat of the fire, one resident found a reason to smile: His pet snake, a juvenile reticulated python, survived.

How, the owner, who did not have the time to share his name as he immediately rushed off from the still scorching ground, could not explain why.

All that he said was that he found his pet snake curled in an empty aquarium.

Normally, snakes cannot survive extreme heat and that it's easier to kill a snake through overheating than by keeping them too cold. But this one survived a raging fire that lasted for two hours and turned 100 houses to ashes, including his owner's.