What happens in a FIRE?

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news.verizon.net - 26 Jul 2003 20:04 GMT

OK. I had the strangest dream last night. Bottom line is my house was
about to go up in flames with a fire smoldering within the walls. I went
looking for my cats and they were hovering at the bottom of the basement
stairs, looking up at me with those, well, you know, cat looks. (Well,
actually, it WAS a dream, and in the dream I seemed to also have a 4th
indoor cat, gray with white paws... but ANYway!).

I said to someone, IF ONLY I could figure out how to gather them all into
carriers & get them out of here...

So anyway, my question is... do people have fire plans as related to their
cats? In all honesty, I think my cats would be lost, since I can barely
'catch' them to go to the vet. (My thought is this dream was just feeding
into my anxiety about how I'm wondering if I will EVER be able to get the
newest cat, Sam, into a carrier to go to the vet....)

Just curious,
PattyC

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Niels Peter - 26 Jul 2003 20:43 GMT

> OK. I had the strangest dream last night. Bottom line is my house
> was about to go up in flames with a fire smoldering within the walls.
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> Just curious,
> PattyC

We don't have any specific plans, but we have carriers evenly
distributed over the house, because the cats use them whenever they need
"privacy", so one shouldn't expect any problems getting the cats into
them.
But the trouble with cats in a fire is that they tend to hide under
furniture which is - on the other hand - why they often survive, since
the smoke concentration is not so high at floor level.
But I could easily imagine a situation where the best would be to get
all humans out of the house and let the firefighters find the cats. They
know the right technique, but of course they need to know there are cats
in the building.

Signature

Niels Peter
www.bluewhite.dk
Cats Are People, Too!

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Karen Chuplis - 26 Jul 2003 21:58 GMT

>> OK. I had the strangest dream last night. Bottom line is my house
>> was about to go up in flames with a fire smoldering within the walls.
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> know the right technique, but of course they need to know there are cats
> in the building.

Yes, sadly a fellow in another cat group had one cat and his house caught
fire. He couldn't find her and the fire flashed. He barely got out and she
died from smoke :(((

Karen

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Livia1881 - 26 Jul 2003 21:55 GMT

I've often thought about this same situation. Leaving the carriers out
sounds like a good idea. This lets the babies get used to being in them and
keeps them available in case they are needed. Right now both of our carriers
are put away in a closet. As for leaving the babies in the burning house and
letting the firemen find them, I don't think I could. I most likely be
looking for them right up to the last minute. Not a safe idea, but its the
only one I see myself doing.

> OK. I had the strangest dream last night. Bottom line is my house was
> about to go up in flames with a fire smoldering within the walls. I went
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> Just curious,
> PattyC

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Karen Chuplis - 26 Jul 2003 21:55 GMT

I just have carriers out in the bedroom, open and ready to go in case of
emergency and hope I can get them in in time. My biggest worry is there is
one me and three of them. I think I need one bigger carrier that I could
stuff two in, but I really wonder if I would have time in case of tornado or
fire. It's a worry and I don't know that there is a great answer.

Karen

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hamandcheese@betweentheknees.com - 28 Jul 2003 02:24 GMT

>I just have carriers out in the bedroom, open and ready to go in case of
>emergency and hope I can get them in in time. My biggest worry is there is
>one me and three of them. I think I need one bigger carrier that I could
>stuff two in, but I really wonder if I would have time in case of tornado or
>fire. It's a worry and I don't know that there is a great answer.

Grab a pillow slip anything. If you get to the carrier dump them in
it.

-mhd

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Rebecca B - 28 Jul 2003 11:41 GMT

A fire is something which worries myself and my boyfriend. Our cat is
usually out during the daytime, but sometimes and when its awful weather
(which in the UK it usually is!) he is kept indoors.

As we live in rented accommodation we're not allowed to put a cat flap in
the door, one of the conditions of us being allowed to have a cat in rented
accommodation.

Does anyone have any ideas what I could do if anything?

Many thanks

Bex

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Kalyahna - 29 Jul 2003 03:43 GMT

> So anyway, my question is... do people have fire plans as related to their
> cats? In all honesty, I think my cats would be lost, since I can barely
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Just curious,
> PattyC

Actually, the pillowcase idea is what our humane society promotes for our
cats, in case of emergency. Frankly, if we were terrified enough, we could
bash out the closest windows, grab handfuls of pillowcases, and take
multiple trips if we had to, depending on where the fire was in the
building. Though, that's sort of our all-encompassing emergency plan.
Tornado, earthquake, fire... pillowcases!

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Yngver - 29 Jul 2003 19:00 GMT

>Actually, the pillowcase idea is what our humane society promotes for our
>cats, in case of emergency. Frankly, if we were terrified enough, we could
>bash out the closest windows, grab handfuls of pillowcases, and take
>multiple trips if we had to, depending on where the fire was in the
>building. Though, that's sort of our all-encompassing emergency plan.
>Tornado, earthquake, fire... pillowcases!

You know, our plan was always that I grab one cat and my husband grab the
other, and out we go. Now that we have three, I'm not sure what we'd do.

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