The Times headline is, “Cat was almost toast when dog started kitchen blaze”.
A nice headline but obviously a serious connotation because the story describes a pet dog almost killing the family cat after starting a house fire by accidentally turning on the family’s toaster.
Herbie is the name of the dog. They think he jumped onto the kitchen counter and inadvertently flicked on the toaster. The event happened at the family’s home in Margate, Kent, UK.
Fortunately, a 12-year-old boy inside the home heard the smoke alarm in the kitchen and he alerted the family.
The family left the home after, I presume, calling the fire service who managed to rescue the family’s black cat named Mush who was unconscious between two pillows where they had decided to hide.
The firefighters used one of those special pet oxygen masks to resuscitate Mush. There have been many occasions when firefighters have used oxygen masks on companion animals to resuscitate them after they have inhaled smoke from a house fire. Special, miniature versions of the oxygen masks have been manufactured and are used by some fire services.
The fire, we are told, caused extensive damage to the home but fortunately no one was harmed. Comment: I hope that there is no permanent damage to Mush after inhaling smoke.
The family said: “We didn’t realise that Herbie jumping up could result in so much damage, and pets could accidentally start fires this way.”
An area manager for customer safety at the fire service involved namely Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: “The swift actions of this young man undoubtedly made a huge difference to the outcome of this incident, saving his pets and preventing further damage to his home. It goes to show how important working smoke alarms are.”
She added that, “You don’t necessarily expect a dog to be able to start a kitchen fire but it can and does happen. To help reduce the chance of electrical fires we advise everyone to switch off and unplug electrical items when not in use, which will also prevent pets, or children, accidentally turning them on.”
How many people unplug appliances when they’re not in use? I don’t! Almost no one does. It’s a good point though because this fire wouldn’t have happened if the family had followed this advice.
More: Great picture of firefighters administering oxygen to two cats rescued from a fire in Liverpool
