Pet Fire Safety

An estimated 500,000 pets are affected annually by home fires and pet fire safety is crucial. During these emergency situations, fire crews administer supplemental oxygen to both people and pets.

By using specially designed pet oxygen masks that fit over animals’ snouts, firefighters are able to resuscitate pets from smoke inhalation.

If your local fire department does not carry a set of oxygen masks, consider donating them to help save an animal’s life.

What can I do to prepare for an emergency before a fire happens?

Accidents and emergencies happen. There are many things you can do to prepare your household in the event of an emergency.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

1. Create an Emergency Evacuation Plan

Schedule a night with your family, layout some common scenarios (like a house fire) that you’d like to be prepared for, and create an emergency plan. Make sure to cover the points listed below:

• Have everyone memorize the emergency phone number of the fire department
• Walk around your property and house to identify the best escape routes
• If you live with infants, the elderly, or pets, make sure someone in the household is assigned to each pet or person to make sure they are safely evacuated
• Check and test your home’s fire alarms, change all the batteries out, and set a calendar event for a year from now to do the same safety check

2. Ask your local Fire Department if they’re equipped to help pet’s during fire season

Providing Oxygen support in healthcare is relatively new in the grand scheme of things. Administering Oxygen to humans during rescue care has only been implemented as a standard practice within the last 100 years

Oxygen Level Becomes the Fifth Vital Sign

In the 1970s in Japan, an engineer by the name of Takuo Aoyagi invented the pulse oximeter, which, according to Courtney Broaddus, professor emeritus of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco is “an indispensable addition to medicine.” 

“What about pets?” you might be asking, Unfortunately for our pet population medicine trends behind human care adoption. Veterinarians have begun using Oxygen administration on pets more recently in the last 20-30 years. 

It’s still very common for Fire Departments and EMS providers to not be equipped with the pet-specific rescue devices needed to care for animals. Ask your fire department if they carry pet rescue tools and it’s a fantastic item to donate to your local department, especially in areas prone to bad wildfires and air quality conditions.

3. Equip your household with an Emergency Pet Oxygen Kit

Equipping your home with a Home Pet Oxygen Kit ensures that you’ll have peace of mind during an emergency at home or with your pet.

Using a Pet Oxygen Kit for your dog or cat during a time of emergency can supplement the Oxygen they’re not getting during an episode of respiratory distress (like in the instance of a house fire). 

When a pet is not getting enough Oxygen their anxiety and stress levels increase, as well as heightening the potential of further complications before you have time to get them to an emergency care facility. 

Spending a small amount of money on an Emergency Pet Oxygen Kit to have in your home might just save you from racking up a hefty Veterinarian bill.