Early in the morning about two weeks ago, a house across the street and about five houses down, had a small fire. We didn’t hear about it until we watched the news that morning because apparently the humans and canines at Stone Manor can sleep through sirens.
Thankfully the two ladies and their dog were waiting outside when the fire department arrived.
It got me thinking. What would we do if there was a fire during the night?
I’ve thought about it before, and our bedroom is ground level. There is a door to the back yard right outside our bedroom door and if by chance we couldn’t get to the door, we have a chair in our room as well as the bed and we could easily push one of them over to the window and use it to climb out. We have our important papers in a fire box that is safely tucked away and easily accessible in case of emergency. The dog’s vet records are in 3-ring binders and I’ll put those in the same spot as the fire box.
Why would we climb out a window, aren’t we comfy right here?
Sampson and Delilah sleep in our room so I’m not worried about them running and hiding, and our bedroom is at the back of the house and the yard is fenced in, but the dogs don’t wear collars in the house. Since I heard about dogs being stolen from their yards, we put locks on our gates.
Since the fire down the street I’ve been thinking about this a LOT. So here’s what I came up with.
Hubby and I have added a key to each of our cars as well as a key to the locks on the gates to our fire box. And yesterday I did this.
I took two quart-size storage bags and labeled them with each of the dog’s names. I added a spare collar with a name tag and spare leash for each dog. When we license the dogs in June I will add their old town tags to the collars. Then I placed both quart-size bags in a larger bag and labeled it ICE. This bag now rests on a shelf in the shed in the back yard.
I recently became a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts (if anyone wants to host a virtual party, just let me know) and plan on getting an emergency bag together that will stay in my car. In this bag, I’ll have blankets, some food and water (for the dogs and us) a couple of spare bowls, a small emergency kit and maybe a change of clothes.
So what about you? Have you given any thought to what you would do in case of an emergency? What steps have you put in place should something cause you to leave your house quickly? Have I forgotten anything?
Hadn’t thought about it! We have a fire alarm which rings us up if we’re out but that’s as far as we’re prepared. Need to put some thought into it.
We have fire alarms and that really is about it. Food for thought though. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
Mom has thought about what to do if something happened in the night but we don’t have anything set up. Living in MN, the car is always ready for an emergency because winter would be so dangerous if anything happened while driving. Good idea, though with the stuff outside at home. We will have to think about it.
We have small signs by the front door and garage to let emergency know there are 2 dogs inside and we have spare leads and harnesses for them in the car etc.
WE have Some thingys taken care of… butt obviously we need to be BETTER prepared… THIS is a Good post and we hope that everybuddy gives this some thought and takes action.
This is a great post and gave me some ideas that I hadn’t thought of before! I have a little safe in my closet that I keep things in but never thought about the dog’s papers. I need to put them in there! The Thirty-One Gifts looks interesting!
That looks like a good plan. It’s always so scary to think about fires and sudden emergency’s. We don’t have far to go to get out, but it’s still scary.
Actually i dont have that good of a plan at all to tell you the truth. But I know I should. Basically my plan has always been, smash a window and jump out. I know how horrible that sounds but it’s true!
So I thank you for this post, I need to get into gear and form a plan.
I feel like such an ass for not having one when I have children AND pets!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Oh gosh–no, I’m afraid I haven’t! And my fire alarm is currently disabled as it was beeping constantly (battery dying). I know…. an accident waiting to happen 🙂
I always think if you are prepared for an emergency you probably won’t have one. So I’d better get busy.
This is such an excellent idea!! I need to get on it and get our kit together. Great idea about the spare keys in the fire box, and the leash with collar/tags in the shed. Teach doesn’t wear a collar in the house either so this would be great for him if we had to leave in a hurry and couldn’t get to his area where the collars/leashes are kept.
I think your preparations are brilliant! I have a tornado kit, but I honestly hadn’t thought of adding some of the things you listed.
No, I haven’t put any thought into it. Or rather, I do think about it, but I don’t have a plan in place. I need to add that to my “to do” list. At least we have wired in smoke detectors and CO detectors, so I feel safe in that way.
It sounds like you have a great plan in place! I never had one… until we moved to Louisiana, then I put together a “hurricane kit” that has everything we might need in either an evacuation or a shelter-in-place. The thing that makes me nervous is in case of a true emergency – weather, fire, whatever – how the heck to corral everyone!
I have a backpack with copies of important household papers and dog records in it. There’s also a first aid kit and a few days worth of: my medicines, power bars, dog food, and underwear! I’m not going commando in an emergency…
We have a few things ready… If there’s a fire and we don’t have much time to grab anything, we have all our important docs in a fireproof portable safe. But we don’t have any info for the dog in there – figure i could always get copies from the vet. Of course, I’d be lost if my purse went up in flames – I should probably make photocopies of all the important stuff in my purse and add that to the fireproof safe. We also have a stash of some food and water (should probably have more but… lazy…) and a battery operated radio for when The Big One hits Calif. But we don’t have any emergency kits in the car. We’re terrible.
Great post and gets a person thinking of what they should be getting ready. I don’t often think of a fire and what will I grab or do but have thought of a tornado and what I would grab which would pretty much go along with a fire. I could live for a couple days out of the clothes I keep in my car for when I travel and I have a emergency bag with first aid stuff for the dogs in the car but not food. I too am like Jacky and would be lost with out my 10# purse or computer bag, right now I am toting around 2 computers…I need to unplug for a day, lol.
Thanks for sharing the info. I honestly had never thought about a situation like this though. But after reading your blog, i’ve decided to put up a plan and prepare myself in case of emergencies like fire. Great post. (y)
Good for you for thinking about this. I would add to make sure smoke detectors are working since those work the best to alert you to get out quickly in case of a fire. Of the items you listed, I think the leashes are the most important in case of a fire because most everything else can be replaced with a call to the vet or by stopping at a store. But if you have to leave the house quickly, you need someway to leash the dogs.
Great post Jodi, and such an important topic. I always stress over what we’d do in an emergency. We have go bags with food and meds and extra leashes the dogs, and carriers in an easy to grab spot for the cats, but my biggest concern is getting every one out of the house quickly. Especially the cats since they tend to hide behind furniture when scared. 🙁