In our house, Newton uses the stove knobs as a stepping stone to the kitchen counter when he is looking for between-meal snacks. He turned on on the gas burner this way one day. Luckily, someone was standing at the counter to turn it off, but we realized we needed stronger fire safety measures at home.
June 15 is National Pet Fire Safety Day to help remind us about hazards like Newton’s paws. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) says that animals accidentally set over 500 house fires every year in the country, most frequently related to the burners on the stove. The NFPA says that the stove or cooktop is the number one piece of equipment involved with pets starting household fires. With over 500,000 pets are impacted by fire annually, this is a good day to stop and assess whether there is anything else you can do for the safety of your cat and your family from fire.
The American Kennel Society has issued a useful list of pet fire safety suggestions, many of them applying to cats, too:
Prevent your Cat from Starting Fires
Remove or cover stove knobs
Child safety covers prevent cats like Newton from accidentally turning on your gas stove burners. If you don’t have covers for your knobs, you can remove them when they aren’t in use.
Extinguish open flames
Don’t leave your cat unattended around any open flames, including gas stovetops, candles, or even your fireplace.
Use flameless candles
Flameless candles are battery-powered and light a bulb instead of having an open flame. Flameless candles allow you to not worry about whether a cat’s tail might wave over the top of a candle or if they might knock it over.
Don’t use glass bowls on wood decks
A glass water bowl on a wooden deck can work like a magnifying glass to heat up and even ignite the wooden deck beneath it. Use a stainless steel or ceramic bowl on wooden decks to instead.
Keep Your Cat Safe
Identify pets
Keep breakaway collars with identification on cats and also microchip them. Don’t forget to keep microchip registry information up to date. In case of emergency, if your cat gets out, they will be able to get back to you if someone can identify them.
Know where your cat hides
A list of the likely hiding places will make it easier for firefighters to retrieve a cat from your home. Consider blocking access to areas that a human can’t reach so that your cat can be evacuated in an emergency.
Consider monitored smoke detectors
If you aren’t home, there’s no one to hear the smoke detector and get pets to safety. Systems that notify a monitoring company allow emergency responders to be notified when you aren’t there to call them.
Use a pet alert window sign
A decal or static cling in a prominent front window tells firefighters to look for your family members who can’t speak for themselves. For extra visibility, add a second decal at your electric or gas meter, since first responders will secure those in case of fire. Keep numbers on the decal(s) up to date as your family grows. Window clings are available free from the ASPCA.
Exchange information with a trusted neighbor
Make sure your neighbors know how many pets you have so that they can talk to firefighters, if necessary. You can even exchange keys with a neighbor and agree to help evacuate each other’s pets, as long as it is safe to do so.
A little planning can help make your four-footed family members safe in case of fire emergencies.
References:
National Fire Protection Association, Animal-Caused House Fires
American Kennel Club, National Pet Fire Safety Day Prevention Tips to Keep Pets from Starting Home Fires
Photo credits:
Arlana Rose Taylor-Stanley on Flickr
Valley Independent Sentinel on Flickr
Thank you! This is such valuable information!
I accidentally put my comment under the blog below. I want to say this is THE single most best blog today or any day. Thank you for it.
These are excellent tips. We don’t want any animal to get hurt in a fire.
Great tips. One more is to check to see if your fire department has a special oxygen mask for pets. Ours does!
The Florida Furkids
These are fantastic tips! Thank you for sharing them. I will share on Facebook.
Super post, great info, some of which I’ve not considered. I don’t have a gas stove, but often have wondered if either of the boys could somehow manage to turn the knobs on the electric one. Less likely, since they’re at the back, but anything is possible.
And while I do keep a water dish outside for the boys, it’s usually in the garden among the foliage…though I’ve often left it on the step without thought–and yes, it’s a glass bowl. I’ll remember not to do this, though maybe it’s good the back space faces north and doesn’t get direct sun all day!
Fantastic information. Fire is something I worry about all the time.
super impawtant post!!! I don’t always use flameless candles (and I should!), that being said, when I use candles I use the tiny ones that go INSIDE of something, so they are deep down in the holder.
When my Angel Bobo was young, I had a candle on top of the console TV (remember those? lol) and his tail was singed in a flame (thankfully I saw it before it hurt him, he never felt it), and I learned a most valuable lesson!!!! He wasn’t hurt, but I learned never to use candles with an open flame with a cat in the house, again!
Those are great tips and that fire stuff is sure scary!
Very important information! Rosie once jumped on the stove and singed her whiskers! Very scary
Oh my gosh Newton….thanks for this info…sounds like you are quite the inquisitive kitty
Hugs madi your bfff
These are all really great tips, some of which we need to implement! Such as a decal on the window that notifies firefighters how many of us are inside. We will also need to make note that one of us lives upstairs only. Thank you for these important reminders. Will be sharing and saving this!
Fires are scary – great tips in the post!
Excellent post! Good reminder and we do many of the things you have outlined, thankfully!
guys….thanx for takin de time ta post thiz & sharin de info…..de food serviss gurls dad iza fire dood & yes inn deed we can say theeze tipz R grate….veree important info…if we may pleez add one; that if ewe knead ta leeve a lite on in de houz while ewe iz gone; if poss a bull to leeve on an “overhead” light; knot a lamp…coz lamps can get knocked over …& bulbs in lamps can get veree hot….♥♥♥
As they got older, both Angel Isis and Angel Hercule used the stove knobs as a stepping stone to the kitchen counter. We don’t have gas, we have electricity, but the danger of setting the house on fire is the same. To avoid it, Claire and Momo let install out of our reach a manual circuit breaker to switch the electricity of the stove completely off. Purrs
Pawsum posty. Mommy makes sure we know not to jump on or play wiff da stove and it’s knobs, but accidents do happen.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
My mom always has a cow if we’re even near the kitchen when she uses the stove top. (Happily, that doesn’t happen too often!) And it’s lucky the knobs are on the back panel and you have to push them in, otherwise I bet somebody like Caroline would be trying to cook stuff.
Excellent post and so important. The only candles I use are battery operated.
The one fire we had on this floor was when a dog knocked over a light over a turtle tank. It set the floor on fire and started going down to the condo underneath. If’n TW wouldn’t have smelled it, it would have been much worse. Our communities dog walker said there’s a cat who turns on the stove. They had to tape the burners cos the cat could turn them on even when they removed them. Good post.
always a good idea to be reminded to review your fire safety habits.
I used to live in a home where there was one finished room in the basement and my cat found a way to get between the floor of the upper floor and the ceiling of the basement room.. and I lamented that if we ever had a fire that was probably where he was going to go and was probably going to perish.. and we tried to figure out how to block it to stop him
It wasn’t long after we found out he was doing that that we moved…