Pet Fire Safety - Prevent Your Pet from Starting Fires

The National Fire Protection Association estimates that nearly 1,000 house fires each year are accidentally started by the homeowners' pets.

Follow these tips to help prevent this tragedy in your home:

• Extinguish open flames

  Pets are generally curious and will investigate cooking appliances, candles, or even a fire in your fireplace. Ensure your pet is not left unattended around an open flame and make sure to thoroughly extinguish any open flame before leaving your home.




• Remove stove knobs

  Be sure to remove stove knobs or protect them with covers before leaving the house - a stove or cook top is the number one piece of equipment involved in your pet starting a fire.




• Consider flameless candles

  These candles take the danger out of your pet knocking over a candle. Cats are notorious for starting fires when their tails turn over lit candles.




• Keep pets near entrances when away from home

  Keep collars on pets and leashes at the ready in case firefighters need to rescue your pet. When leaving pets home alone, keep them in areas or rooms near entrances where firefighters can easily find them.




• Secure young pets

  keep them confined away from potential fire-starting hazards when you are away from home such as in crates or behind baby gates in secure areas.




• Beware of glass water bowls on wooden decks

  Sun rays when filtered through glass and water can heat and ignite the wooden deck beneath it.




• Affix a pet alert window cling and write down the number of pets inside your house and attach the static cling to a front window. This critical information saves rescuers time when locating your pets. Make sure to keep the number of pets listed on them updated.