No, really! It happened in a town called Liberal, Kansas. From the AP:
While their owner was away, two cats did play — with fire. Liberal Fire Department investigators said a pair of cats started a fire inside a small southwest Kansas home by jumping onto a stove. Apparently, one of the cats ignited a burner by stepping on a push button.Material on the stove caught fire, and flames spread to other areas of the kitchen and spread smoke throughout the house. Investigators said the homeowner was out of town, and the fire apparently burned unnoticed for some time.
The cats survived the fire and were being treated at an animal hospital until the owner could pick them up.
Anyway, it just goes to show that when making your homes "pet safe" you can't be too careful. I don't get too crazy over it myself except to eliminate the obvious dangers. Now I'm looking at my stove...
This same thing happened about 8 years ago in my apt. complex. I came home from work and when I ENTERED the lobby, I noticed a horrid burning smell. Told the manager who was standing right there..he thought it was coming from outside. I said, "No, I didn't smell that until I walked in here!" We investigated.
Long story short: The very first apt. next to the lobby had been "smoked out". The owner had left a bag of cat food on the stove top and in the process of jumping up and down on and off the stove, one of the cats hit the knob. There was no actual 'fire' so to speak as the owner of the apt. had the place so sealed tight, (paranoid of burglers), there wasn't enough oxygen in the place to get one going.
However, the entire place was COVERED in burnt black smoke...thick all over everything. You could lift the coffee mug off of the top of the dishwasher and see a perfect white circle there which was surrounded by black soot.
The entire aprt. was covered...unfortunately, because the guy had his apt so air tight, the cats died. I will NEVER forget their outlines on the floor near the windows...they were trying to escape and could not.
The apt. owner was absolutely devastated. I felt so bad for him because he kept to himself, was responsible, quiet, caused no problems at all...and he LOVED those cats.
Lessons to be learned with these two stories. I may just trackback this post next week and write this story all over again.
Posted by: Serenity at June 2, 2004 08:07 PM