# Fire alarms and cats......not a good thing



## lunarbishop (Jan 3, 2005)

Tonight about 15 min ago the fire alarm went off and both cats ran under my bed and hid. Now I'm a fireman's daughter I know I leave once the alarm goes off but I'm also a cat mommie, so I checked outside real quick for smoke of the smell of smoke. No smoke, so I went in. I got the carriers into place but the dang cats were under the bed. I got my purse and put it by the door and wanted to coax the cats out but the alarm is SO loud that they refused to come out. I checked again outside for smoke, and ran into one of my many neighbors, and she was headed down stairs. So I shut my door and went out with her to see what was going on. I know BAD cat mommie. But there wasn't any smoke that I could tell and no one was panicing. The apartment complex had been called and the fire department (which is basically across a field to the right of my building) was on the way. We (neighbors) determined that someone had pulled the alarm. Well the head maintence guy came and then the firetruck, they shut off the alarm and we all went back inside. Ok long story done. I have questions about my cats and what I can do to help them get into the carriers quickly? I'm planning on making a wooden box thing to go under my bed to block it cause I don't want them under there. I have the stickers that you fill out to let the firemen know how many pets are in the house/apartment but I don't have any windows to stick them too. And then there's the fact that I have one listed cat but actually have two in the apartment (shhh don't tell my manager!). So any hints and or advice to help incase there was a real fire? Course my mind is thinking hook up a rope to the balcony and send them down in the carriers off the back but that's a little too James Bond for me!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

lunarbishop said:


> Course my mind is thinking hook up a rope to the balcony and send them down in the carriers off the back but that's a little too James Bond for me!


I don't really have any advice, but thanks for that image. I needed a smile.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

In 1999 we moved into an older rental house with our seven cats. We had only been there a few days and I started a fire in the wood stove and had a problem. Its air vents were blocked and it backdrafted when I opened the door of the stove to check on the fire. Luckily, I was kneeling down and not standing bent over the door, the flames leaped out over my head. It set off the fire alarm and I thought I could see flames flickering in the flue so I called 911 and requested a firetruck to come check the chimney for safety. The alarm stopped making its racket after the initial burst of smoke dissipated.

I herded the kitties into the big front bedroom where all the carriers were. IF there was a fire, I would have flipped up the bed to grab/stuff cats into carriers and then handed them out the window to safety. At the least, they were shut into the bedroom and I could hope for little to no damage in the room from heat/smoke/water and/or they could still be reached by access through an exterior window with the door closed to the fire in the residence, giving time for rescue efforts.

I don't have a plan for this house, as my carriers are kept in the attic with one or two kept in the garage for vet visits. I suppose I would try to get them all into the bedroom and either contain them there if the fire could be put out, but if it was raging, I'd try to toss them out an open window into the yard and hope to catch them later after the ruckus had died down.
Fire is scary.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Bekki - you can check this out with your dad - once the fire alarm goes off, you've got less than three minutes to get out before you succumb from smoke inhalation and perish. Ask yourself whether you can round up the cats and get them into carriers, and get them and yourself out in under three minutes. Oh, better knock off about half that time in case the alarm goes off while you're sleeping and you have to wake up and figure out what's happening and orient yourself before doing anything to safe yourself.

Just to keep everybody thinking.........how long does it take to round up just one cat and get that one cat in a carrier and out the door without the smoke and the alarm and the panic?


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