Fire-Starting Felines!

We're animal lovers with mixed pet cat/ dog families, but we feel obliged to alert the public to this potential threat:

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. (Ed.:  all of them, Katie!).

But, if you're lucky, there'll be a good boy or two to come to the rescue: