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Post by SarahHound on Jul 10, 2013 10:18:18 GMT
We had a fire last night. Not a major one thankfully, and only minor damage. It was at work, right next door to my house. I wasn't there at the time, but I was called and got there just after the fire was put out. An electric heater plug had exploded in the wall setting it on fire. There was damage to the socket, a bit to the wall and the carpet, nothing too bad though. Smoke damage was quite bad though, even with such a small fire.
The hotel had been evacuated, guests and staff. However not one person had checked on Lucky cat. He is usually fast asleep on the reception desk, he has his own bed there. He's there from about 7am in the morning to 11pm at night, with the odd hour or two he goes home to eat or out for a wander. Not one member of staff had checked if he was in. The second I got there, he was my first thought, and thankfully, he was out. He has breathing problems anyway, and there was a lot of smoke that I am certain would have affected him.
Made me quite sad really. Not one member of staff thought to check on him. I know they have to think of the people, but it just made me realise how important it is that you have someone to check on the animals too. It can happen to anyone!!!
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Post by scallywag on Jul 10, 2013 10:23:27 GMT
Oh blimey SarahHound glad things were no worse, could have been a completely different story ! We were only talking about this last weekend, and discussing how we would get Beau out the house if needed, and it was at night !! ( he sleeps upstairs outside our bedroom door ) Glad Lucky was ok x |
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Post by teegiebear on Jul 10, 2013 11:44:40 GMT
Glad it wasn't serious!
I mind talking about this with friends before when there's been on the news about exclusion zones and people can't get to their pets, I'd be the one getting n fights with the police to get to my dogs.
Wen I'm at home the dogs are never far from me, and at night they're in my room, its a dormer window I've got with a tall ikea drawer infront. I can lift them pretty high, tortoise in one hand, lift the dogs onto the drawers that are shoulder height, then onto sloping roof.... After that I gotta hope someone's there to help me or I'm sat on the roof with 2 dogs and a tortoise, someone there to help and scramble to other side and they can stand on the wall and try lift dogs down. All great in theory.........
When I'm not at home my mum knows I'd never forgive her if something happened to them.
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Post by gladys on Jul 10, 2013 11:59:44 GMT
Gosh SarahHound that's a horrible thing to have happened. So glad it wasn't to serious. Well we live in a bungalow so at the moment my escape plan is very simple. If hubby is away Cooper sleeps with me so we can go out the bedroom window with house keys and then when safely out I can get the cats out through another door or a window. If hubby is here is because a little more difficult as Cooper is farther away, but out the window and then round to get the fur family from which ever door or window I can. When we move to a house I will have to rethink. Maybe a rope ladder should be bought??  |
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Post by lotsofcats on Jul 10, 2013 15:07:56 GMT
That must have been so frightening for you. It does make you wonder. About 2 years ago my next-door neighbour's house which is joined to mine, caught on fire. My next-door down neighbour's dog kept barking in the front garden and when she went to see what all the fuss was about there was smoke pouring out of the upstairs windows. She couldn't get a signal on her mobile and ran around to my house and I phoned the fire brigade. Our neighbour was in downstairs at the time of the fire but I think he had fallen asleep. My husband knocked on the door but got no answer so he ran down to the neighbour's father's house down the bottom of the road so he could come up with a key. I put all my cats back out into their garden pen (it was about 8pm) and shut the dogs out in the garden while the firemen put the fire out. They had to come in our house and go up into the attic to check for fire spots. My house was very smokey. The neighbours had to move out for 6 months. They didn't even have the decency to say thank you for getting help!!
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Post by tonib on Jul 10, 2013 16:31:48 GMT
Crikey sarah & Jenny, you've both had to think quickly about the pets & humans. Glad everyone was alright in both cases. Whilst I don't like it, I can understand the hotel staff concentrating on the humans & making sure they were kept safe. There is an interesting question here, if the hotel takes pets of any variety whose responsibility is it to get the pets out especially if the owners are not there? With dogs its much easier as they don't tend to come & go as they please, whereas cats might be in (and any where in the building) or out. I've thought about it with our 4 cats as they can come & go as they please. At night Penny is usually in our room, Lexie is shut in the spare room next door, Roman is usually out or on our windowsill, although in winter when he's in more he may well be in the other spare bedroom. Osiris is out, on the landing, in the hall or in our room. with only a central staircase it could be difficult depending where the fire is. The spare room Roman uses (across the gallery lading from ours & Lexie's rooms) does have a window on to the small roof overhanging the garage door. So think it would be get them out there, if it needed evacuation. Mind you Penny hates being picked up & is very quick with her claws, so we could also need the ambulance for ourselves if we had to carry her out.  gladys the comment about having the house keys is a good point. Ours aren't upstairs with us when we go to bed. Until a couple of weeks ago we needed them to (un)lock the front & back doors from the inside as well as out so where always by or in the door. We've got a different lock mechanism now & don't need keys on the inside any more, so could take a set upstairs with us. this topic certainly gives food for thought. |
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Post by gladys on Jul 10, 2013 16:44:31 GMT
tonib I only stared taking the house and car keys to bed when hubby was away on business in case I needed to make a quick exit (someone breaks in to house etc). But it does make sense having them handy 24/7. 
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Post by BorderTerrier on Jul 10, 2013 17:21:55 GMT
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Post by chantel on Jul 13, 2013 15:13:21 GMT
I always take my mobile phone to bef with me just in case.
We had a fire tragedy a couple of years ago, my Nanan died in a house fire it was just an electrical fault but it was horific. We were told by the fire fighters to always take your mobile to bed with you because if a fire starts one of the first things is the fire and heat burns through the telephone line.
I never go to bed without my mobile now.
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Post by tonib on Jul 13, 2013 18:15:42 GMT
Sorry to hear about your Nanan but thanks for passing on the advice, I hadn't thought about it as there is a phone in our bedroom, but that's no use if the phone line is burnt through.
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Post by judypops on Jul 14, 2013 23:13:55 GMT
Wow, glad the cat was ok sarah. I was actually thinking about this a while back, if the cats were inside at the time it would be easy enough to get them out, provided they weren't in the hall where the only opening windows are about 6 foot high. If I had a minute I could carry out Bop the goldfish easily but unfortunately the fish in the other tanks wouldn't be as lucky. An 80l and 120l tank might be a bit much to carry, considering my tank would need to be carried to another room as my window wouldn't open wide enough. I always have my phone beside my bed as it's my alarm too, and it's a nokia so it has a battery life of about a week without using the internet too much. Penney's out of harms reach, unless the ditch catches on fire.  |
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Post by anniemck on Jan 29, 2015 13:21:00 GMT
After reading this I wanted to mention carbon monoxide – it’s a gas that is deadly to pets and humans and there’s no way to know if you’ve a carbon monoxide leak. I found out lots of information from this website (http://corgi-homeplan-how-safe-is-your-home.org/carbon-monoxide/) and I’ve had a CO2 alarm installed in my house as I have 3 dogs and 2 children -a bit of a mad house but I thought it would be the responsible thing to do.
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Post by lotsofcats on Jan 29, 2015 14:14:44 GMT
Very sensible of you. I also have a carbon monoxide alarm detector installed in my house. Better safe than sorry.
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Post by scallywag on Jan 29, 2015 14:21:54 GMT
Yep me to, we have 2 sitting on the side in different rooms  |
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