EAGAN, Minn. (AP) -- Trinity Lone Oak Lutheran School teacher Linda Krienke says fire broke out on a desktop in her classroom around 1 a.m. Saturday, causing enough smoke to set off the school's alarm. But when firefighters arrived, they found only glowing embers on the desk.
The heat had caused a fish bowl on the desk to explode, and the water put out the fire, Krienke said.
One of the firefighters spotted the fish, named Dory, still alive on the floor and hollered for a glass of water.
``She's a Beta, so they're used to breathing air,'' Krienke said. ``They're a Chinese fish and if they're in China they just live in puddles. If one dries up, they flop to the next one.''
The children are very excited about their hero fish, she said. ``Each of them wrote a story from the fish's point of view, how his Friday night went. He saw the fire, and then he got real hot and then his vase broke and he fell on the floor and the fireman came in and saved him.''
Krienke said the smoke damage destroyed her computers and everything in the room and heavily damaged the seventh and eighth-grade room next door. Both teachers have been relocated while the damage is being repaired.
And Dory is swimming around in a new bowl, ``happy as can be. I suppose she's thankful to be alive,'' Krienke said. ``She's quite a survivor!''
