I have been looking into buying an emergency ladder or two for my house in case of fire, and started wondering if there was a way to save my dogs if necessary.
The ladders would work fine for people, but carrying a dog down wouldn’t be too smart, quick or easy. Especially considering my dogs weigh about 50 to 60 pounds each. I’ve tried searching the net, and have come up empty…
I’ve never seen anything aimed at dog owners in case of fires… Does anyone know of anything that might work? I’m stumped.
Your dogs are better equipped to escape on their own than you are, unlike humans they can move full speed well below the thermal inversion layer that would be lethal to us if we tried to stand up and run under many fire environment situations.
If you really wanted to get tricky you could probably put a small cable and pulley near several windows with a carabiner. Get in the habit of having your dogs wear chest harnesses rather than collars so you can lower them without strangling them.
If you’re trapped, improvisation is best. Capture a dog in a blanket or bedsheet, cinch it up at one end, and lower him/her as far as you can, and open the sheet up. That’ll buy you a few feet, and save your pups.
Aren’t there those fireproof expandable tunnels that attach to the window and can be expanded so you can slide down? There was stuff all over the net about them after 9/11 saying that would have been a way to save some of the people near the top. I could find only one, and not in the U.S. although they say they install worldwide. Probably cost-prohibitive. I wonder if you could build one just for the animals. http://www.escape-chute-systems.com/
