Your pet is a member of your family. And in the same way, you take extra steps to protect your family members living in your household, it's just as important to be mindful of the safety needs of your beloved animals.With the holidays just around the corner, fire hazards ranging from seasonal candles to roasted dinners to Christmas trees will be more prevalent in your home. For this reason, a national pet fire safety campaign is one of the best ways to make sure pet owners are being mindful of the potential fire hazards that you and your pets may come across in the winter months ahead.Looking for tips on how to protect pets from house fires? We've got you covered. Read on for practical advice to avoid in-house fires and potentially save your pets from fire-related peril.
Many households take time to create fire safety plans to coordinate emergency exits and responsibilities in case of a fire. They may even run fire drills on a set fire safety day to practice this emergency response.Whether you already have a fire safety plan or you need to create one for your household, make sure all of your family pets are accounted for. This includes figuring out who is responsible for escorting the pet out of the home, if it is safe to do so, as well as who is responsible for guiding firefighters on how to locate and rescue pets inside your home.This small task of creating a fire safety plan can save you time in an emergency, and possibly save your pets' life.
One of the best ways to practice animal fire safety is to adorn your home's exterior with a marker that lets emergency responders know that you have pets indoors. A popular method of marking the presence of your pets is by placing a sticker or window decal on the front door of your home, or on the window of the room where the pet is located.These stickers—which may feature phrases such as "Pets Inside" or "In Case of Fire, Save My Dog," can help firefighters prioritize their response as they work to rescue everyone from the home while fighting the blaze. These decals can also aid firefighters if the fire breaks out when you aren't home, or when you're unable to assist firefighters in locating your dog in the home.
When left unattended, your pets may accidentally come into contact with potential sources of fire. Candles, fireplaces, and even stoves, and cooking appliances are all regular features of a home that could accidentally cause a fire.Pets could end up turning on a stove or knocking over a candle, for example, and setting a blaze that consumes the house. For this reason, pet owners are encouraged to keep pets secure when they leave the house—especially if you have a young pet or a pet that is prone to getting into mischief.
If firefighters need to break into your home and rescue your pet, they'll have a better chance of succeeding if they can easily access your home from the outside. Keep pets secured either near entrances from the outside, or in rooms with windows large enough for a firefighter to climb through.By making pets more accessible, you will support rescue efforts to pull them from a burning building—and you also help protect firefighters from having to make far more dangerous recovery missions deeper into your home.
One of the best investments you can make to maximize pet safety in your home is smoke detectors connected to a monitoring system that will automatically contact local fire and rescue. Compared to traditional smoke detectors, which only alert individuals occupying a house, monitored smoke detectors will quickly alert local firefighters even when you aren't home—which is the time when your pets are most vulnerable to fire.Even if you are home, these monitored smoke detectors can expedite notifications to local fire and rescue services, resulting in a faster arrival of firefighters to fight your home's fire and rescue your loved ones—both human and animal.Planning for potential house fires is never fun, but a little planning can make a life-saving difference if your home catches fire with your pets inside. And, by increasing your awareness of potential fire hazards and taking steps to eliminate these hazards, you can reduce your risk of a fire starting in the first place.
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