Pet Fire Safety

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Imagine this: you’re out to dinner, enjoying a lovely meal with a friend and having a great time catching up. Your phone rings. It’s the fire department calling to inform you that your apartment caught fire while you were out. Your first thought? Your pets at home, of course! The thought of your beloved animals stuck in a home as a fire breaks out is terrifying.

Fires while you’re away can be prevented. In honor of Pet Fire Safety Day this Friday, we wanted to share with you some ways that you can stop these kind of accidents in their tracks. Not only will you keep your pets safe but your neighbors and your neighbors’ pets too.

Extinguish Candles

This one might seem pretty obvious but if you’re a fan of vegging out on the couch with a steaming cup of coffee, a good book, and some scented candles, don’t forget to put them out once you’re done with them. Animals can be attracted to the flames and hop up to see what’s going on and in one fell swoop of a paw or tail, the candle is on the carpet.

Go Flameless

Instead of real candles, opt for flameless candles. Or if you’re more interested in the scent than the flame, find some scent diffuser sticks. They come in a variety of different scents and tend to last a long time. They’re much safer than candles but your pets could still be attracted to the sticks poking up from your table so keep them in a high spot so they don’t get knocked down.

Mind the Knobs

It’s also possible for your playful cat or clumsy dog to turn on a stove knob by accident. If you find your pets doing this often, the best course of action is to remove stove knobs when you’re not at home. It might seem tedious but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Also, make sure your stove knobs are turned off once you’ve finished cooking. It could save your pet!

Box Up The Babies

Young pets are much more likely to get into things than older, wiser pets. Keep your young ones in a crate while you’re out of the house. It will keep them out of trouble and in the event a fire does break out, it will be much easier for the fire department to locate and evacuate them from the apartment.

Make Your Pets Known

In the event of a fire in your home while you’re away, there might not be anyone there to tell the fire department that you have animals staying there. Order yourself some stickers to place on the front door to make it known that you have pets that are still in the home. You can get them from the ASPCA website here.

Accidents happen. Hopefully, with proper precautionary measures, they don’t have to happen to you. Keep your pets safe and sound in your AQ Rittenhouse apartment by following these tips.

Do you have a fire safety plan in place? How did you come up with it? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter!