Protecting Your Pets: Fire Safety Tips for Pet Owners

Protecting Your Pets: Fire Safety Tips for Pet Owners

Most of us know what to do in case of a fire for our family members, and we even have a fire safety and escape plan for our families. However, we should also remember to include our furry family members! Pets are also part of our families, and it is important that we have a fire safety plan set in place that includes getting our pets to safety.

Primarily, it is best to have preventative measures set in place. When we have children, we put safety locks on cabinets to prevent them from getting into harmful chemicals, right? With our pets we want to ensure we do the same! Some preventative measures you can take include the following:

• Do not leave candles with an open flame if you are leaving the room. Pets are genuinely curious animals and in a blink of an eye can knock a candle over. If it isn’t curiosity, pets often run around playing and may bump into furniture causing the candle to knock over. If your condominium has a fireplace, make sure to have a safety gate in front to prevent your pets from getting their tails in the fire if they happen to explore too closely.
• Always remember to secure any loose wires in your home. Pets love to chew, especially puppies and kittens. If you have loose wires behind your television console, make sure to organize them in a way so they are hidden and secured. You can purchase wire safety boxes that hold the wires within it, or you can just secure the wires out of reach from your pets.
• Make sure your pet’s water bowl is not near any electrical outlets or wires. This is a simple preventative measure that many pet owners don’t often think about. You want to ensure that your pet is not able to knock over their bowl to where it would stream towards any outlets.
• Ensure that a window or door in your home has a pet alert window sign or cling. In the unfortunate event that a fire started when you are not home, there are signs and clings available for purchase that will inform emergency respondents that your home has pets. This will let the respondents know and will save them time in locating your pets.
• Always make sure your pet is microchipped and has a collar tag reflecting the correct address and phone number. During a fire, pets are often very afraid and when afraid they flee quickly if alone. This could result in your pet getting lost so you want to make sure that if a stranger finds them, they can easily contact you.

Condo owners must remember unlike a house, they have many flights to climb down often. Time is crucial and therefore, it is important to be knowledgeable of fire safety in Chicago. The best way to do this is by securing a plan and checking that your home’s fire preventative measures are set with Connected Fire.