I am here to share a horrific story that just took place outside my house today...
I want to make sure everyone has a game plan for getting pets out of your house incase it starts on fire. Tell ALL your neighbors about your animals, make sure they know EXACTLY what you have and what dog breeds. Place pet rescue stickers on more than one window of your house.
Earlier this afternoon (about an hour ago) our neighbors house (across the street) caught on fire, about 4 fire trucks and an ambulance were outside our house. A young golden retriever (less than 2 years old) lives inside the house that was on fire, I knew it was inside at the time. I saw a firefighter hooking up the hose to the hydrant and immediately ran over to him and said "There is a golden retriever in that house, get it out! Make sure you get the dog out of the house", and I ran back across the street to my house. The firefighter looked at me as if I had 7 eyes and 3 arms and said "Ok, thanks for telling me" and proceeded to do nothing to help get the dog out of the house- he didn't even alert any other firefighters to the dogs presence in the house. I stood there in horror, along with 5-6 other neighbors, and watched the firefighters take 6-9 minutes to get their gear ready and hoses set up, and then slowly begin to make entrance to the house and hose the house. I have never seen anyone move so slow, we were shocked. I kept saying "Get the dog, please get the dog" over and over again (to the neighbors around me, not the firefighters) and waited to see if the dog would come out. Well, the dog eventually came out- in the arms of a firefighter limp as a noodle and resembled a long-haired black lab not a golden retriever. I screamed and started crying as soon as I saw it; I knew the dog had died. They placed the dog in the snow and covered it with a blanket. The house owners were not home, they have young kids under the age of 7.
I do not want this to happen to anyone here on Pet Talk, do everything in your power to see that your pet/s have a chance of getting out of a fire safely. Hopefully, your fire department is better than mine and will actually act quicker and do their job. I am now beyond horrified and worried to high heaven- if my house sets on fire I know my pets stand no chance of surviving.
I am so shaken up, if none of this makes sense, I am very sorry, I can't think very clearly right now. This will stay with me forever, and the image of the dog coming out of the house will forever haunt me.
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