Your cat could burn your house down, officials warn
South Korean officials have a message for pet owners in Seoul: Beware, your cat might burn your house down.
The warning comes as the capital’s Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters estimated that more than 100 fires over the last three years were started by cats, many of which managed to turn on electric stoves with their furry paws.
“Cat-started fires are continuing to be reported these days,” Chung Gyo-chul, an official working at the department, told the Korea Herald. “We advise pet owners to pay extra attention as fire could spread widely when no one is at home.”
According to the Seoul organization, 107 fires sparked by felines were recorded between January 2019 and November 2021. Over half of the fires recorded were started when the owners were out of the house, officials said.
Of the recorded incidents, four people were injured.
Fire-starting pets are not just a problem in South Korea: In the United States, almost 1,000 home fires each year are started by pets, according to the National Fire Protection Association, although it remains unclear what percentage of these blazes were started by cats.
Korean officials have recommended that people remove flammable objects such as paper towels away from their cooking devices, to prevent accidents in the home.
And in joint advice, the American Kennel Club and ADT Security Services advise people to ensure their pet is unable to access appliances when left home alone, recommending the use of gates and crates to contain mischievous animals. Experts also recommend removing stove knobs or using protective covers to prevent fires at home.
While cats are often the “purrpetrators” of house fires, they are, on occasion, the hero of the story.
In Canada, a cat woke up its owners as their home burned during the early hours of the morning in February 2017. Officials said the animal pawed its way into the bedroom and bit its owner on the arm as the fire took hold.
“A cat is being credited with alerting a family to a fire in their home early this morning,” County of Grande Prairie Fire Chief Trevor Grant said in a statement. “The family escaped the home without any injuries.”
But cats aren’t the only animals that have sent firefighters running to family homes. On Christmas Day 2019, a 45-year-old tortoise in Essex, England, knocked a heat lamp onto its bedding and started a fire while its owners were out of the house. As thick smoke rose, neighbors in the town of Great Dunmow made calls to the emergency services who attended the scene and extinguished the flames – which were confined to just one room.
The full identity of the unnamed tortoise was never uncovered, but Essex County Fire and Rescue Service described the creature as “angry” looking.
That same month, and also in the county of Essex, a dog that had been left home alone started a house fire by turning on the microwave, which happened to have some bread stored inside. Following the blaze, officials warned people not to store items inside appliances and to ensure smoke alarms are installed at home, the BBC reported.