Please ALWAYS have kennels and leashes ready

Tonight was one of the most scary nights of my life. We just got home from being evacuated from our house. The FIRE STATION across the street from our house just burnt to the ground. Everything was lost, they couldn't even get the trucks out. It was 45 minutes before the first truck from a surrounding town got here.

I always have my kennels together but I have the doors off. As soon as I saw the flames I put the doors on. When I started hearing explosions I scooped everyone up and put them in. The dogs' leashes are always hanging on a hook next to the door. Everyone (cats, dogs, and ferrets) cooperated perfectly. The police banged on the door then and we all got in the car. This all happened in a matter of minutes!

I grabbed the pets and pet food and that is it! Not even my wallet. We were extremely lucky that nothing happened to our house and we are back in now.

I just wanted to remind everyone that horrible things happen all the time and it happens faster than you could imagine!

Please hug your pets!!

An emergency like that is my greatest fear with Holland. Her carrier is in my living room, always open, but if I ever had a fire emergency I'm afraid she would hide and I'd have to hope for her survival skills to save her.

I'm glad you and your loved ones are OK!

Wow, that is crazy! I can't believe you remembered their food! Good job, I would never have thought of that!

Ouch! That is scary! I am glad you are all ok, and nothing happened! That reminds me to buy a new crate - I do live in the "tornado alley", and have two crates for three cats... one crate is large enough for Lucky and Hope though, in the case of an emergency, but not for a long period of time... I better get another one.
Both of them are in the living room, and the hard one has the door off - maybe I should keep it on...
for your family and all the fire fighter families!

Wow is that scary - thank goodness you were so prepared and level headed!

The first thing we did when we moved back into the RV was buy collapsable carriers.

I'm glad everything is ok! How scary.

I keep our carriers in our bedroom closet, just in case. It's usually cracked open and they like to sleep in the carriers.

Originally Posted by LDG

Wow is that scary - thank goodness you were so prepared and level headed!

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I like your quick thinking!! Bless you for reminding the rest of us. Sending vibes for your town, esp. with the loss of a Fire Station

I am so glad you and yours are safe! I also always have emergency carrier and evacuation set up for Maia and I. I can't help but ask how and what happened that a fire station would be the source of a major fire?

Glad everyone is ok....

Good thinking... and planning!!

A fire is my greatest fear...while I'm away at work and no one at home to take care of my kitties.

Glad to hear you were able to return home.

On another note, seriously, the FIRE STATION burnt down?

Glad you are all safe! And glad they all cooperated. I hope if anything like that happens here, my kitties will be freaked enough to cooperate with me!

Thank you guys

I am so proud of everyone for cooperating and going straight into kennels. Frodo, my big guy, is very afraid of his kennel (I don't know why) and will usually run and hide under the bed when it comes out. My husband scooped him up and popped him right in.

One thing that I really regretted was not having a litter box for my cats. We went to a friend's house and she has ferrets too so they all shared a cage for bit but my kitties didn't have a litter box. I honestly don't think they would have used it for the first while anyway, but if we had to spend the night we would have had a problem.

The fire station seriously burned down. We took the dogs for their morning walk today and the worst of the damage is right where the truck was. The fire either started next to the truck or on the truck itself. It is so sad because it is a volunteer fire dept and they just raised money for a new truck and now the truck is gone

How very scary. It just goes to show, you never know huh? I am SO glad you and your babies are safe though.

Thank you

Hopefully insurance will replace the truck.

You just never know when lightning will strike. Well done for being so prepared. I usually have one carrier to hand, but most of them are in the shed. Leashes are in a drawer in the kitchen. I must make an evacuation plan.

I'm so sorry that you had to go thru this, but I'm glad that you posted this as a reminder to all of us.

My house caught fire one time and every cat but one disappeared under the beds. We were able to put out the fire ourselves with the 4 large extinguishers that we keep around the house. So I would like to add that everyone should have working fire extinguishers in your house and you should check that they are working every year. Had we not had them, I would have lost 12 cats that day.

We also live in tornado alley and I do have practice drills with my crew where I herd them all into the basement. Everyone really needs to think of their emergency plans.

Wow, Momofmany, that is so scary. I am so glad that you were able to put the fire out.

I am going to go out and buy more fire extinguishers tonight.

A plan is always great to have. I really wanted to post this to remind people to think about it.

Originally Posted by blueandfrodo

I am going to go out and buy more fire extinguishers tonight.

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Good for you!!

Don't put your fire extinguishers away in closets. My DH sold fire safety equipment for a while and what he learned from that experience is that most people buy the equipment, then lose it in a closet so it is not handy when they need it. So as much as it can be an eyesore, put it in a place where you know exactly where it is and are able to grab it at a second's notice. If your house is on fire, you don't have the time to try to remember where you put it, or empty a closet to find it.

Ours are located here: Next to the stove in the kitchen. Next to the computer desk in the office, next to our bed, in the garage by the side door, and in our shed on the work bench. If I didn't know this, I could lose my family.

Think about the panic that would ensue if your home caught fire. Chances are you are calling in the emergency, then running around grabbing carriers, leashes, and trying to catch your critters. Cats will panic and hide where ever they can. Mine hid because while I was on the phone with E911, DH was running thru the house grabbing fire extinguishers. I opened up the front door and literally threw one cat outside, chased the dogs out (5 at that time), then went to find the rest of the cats. And this entire time the poor 911 operator was on the phone hollering at me to find out if we were OK.

Wow, thanks Momofmany and Blueandfrodo for the precious advice. Glad everyone is safe is both of your stories.
It is sad for the volonteer fire station though.
I have one carrier alaways at hand and I have thought many times of what I would do in an emergency, but never tried any drills to practice. I will get to it now!