Approximately 40,000 pets die in house fires every year. Please take a few moments to read over these precautions to keep your pets safe from fires, as well as a note about our fire safety precautions here at TVH.
Fire Safety For Dogs
If you have dogs, keep backup leashes hanging by each of your exterior doors for easy access during an emergency. For example, if you typically always keep your main leash by the front door, consider keeping a backup leash at your back door. You never know where you’ll need to exit, and you most likely won’t be able to run through the house to grab your primary leash.
Fire Safety For Cats
If you have cats, we similarly recommend keeping extra pillowcases by your doors. While this may seem odd, sometimes worrying about a carrier takes too long. A pillow case is actually one of the safest ways to get your cat out of the house in a timely fashion while upsetting them as little as possible. The pillow provides a comforting, dark, and enclosed space that helps to shield them from the environment. If you have a pillowcase ready at the door, you can scoop your cat into it before exiting. This also helps to ensure your cat doesn’t run off and get lost once you’ve exited the house.
Fire Safety For All Pets
Please always keep your pet’s ID tags up-to-date for both dogs and cats. This can greatly improve the chances of being reunited if they ever get lost. Visit your local pet store to get same-day updated engraved tags.
Additionally, we highly recommend checking out the article from the ASPCA which outlines how to prepare a pet emergency kit and all the important supplies you should include, such as extra medications, food, and toys.
Fire Safety At TVH
At TVH, we take pet fire safety very seriously and our team frequently reviews the fire evacuation plans in addition to keeping pillowcases and leashes by every exit. In fact, our staff successfully executed a fire alarm evacuation in late May by getting all staff and patients out of the building safely within 49 seconds of the initial alarm! For comparison, the state guideline minimum time for small office evacuations is 5 minutes, and that doesn’t typically include ensuring multiple animals exit the building alongside all staff members.
This evacuation was not a drill. The source of the fire alarm was determined, no pets were harmed, and everyone was able to return to work safely. We hope this gives our clients peace of mind about our protocols in case of emergency while your pet is with us.
If you have any questions about fire safety precautions for our pets, please give our office a call.
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