Last week we had a prolonged run of incredibly hot days here in the NYC/Tri-State area with little in the way of relief. By Friday morning, we were looking at the second day with a heat index well over one hundred degrees. When the temps get that hot, we can usually expect that there will be some sort of power outages here and there just due to the over use of the system as folks run air-conditioners more.
During this excessively hot week, one of the pups I was watching was an older dog named Ruby in Greenwich, CT. Ruby’s family was away for the week and I was checking in on her four times a day while they were gone. There were stretches in between the visits when Ruby was alone in the home for approximately five hours at a time while I was doing rounds checking on other dogs and cats at other homes. To keep her company I was leaving my own dog, Cozy, at the home with Ruby. She and Ruby like each other a lot. They play with toys, just hang out companionably, eat side by side with no problems, walk nicely together; it’s a good ‘dog friend’ fit for each of them as older girls. Ruby had been a little melancholy with her family gone and having Cozy’s company there when I had to go out seemed to cheer her up. It was much too hot for Cozy to come to work with me and drive around in the car, so leaving her with Ruby was easier for me than having to make stops back at my own apartment to check on my own dog during the day. Cozy was happier hanging out with Ruby than staying home all alone at my place so it was a win-win for everyone.
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Friday morning I left the girls at Ruby’s house around 11:30 am to head out for some mid-day dog visits in the heat. As I walked down Ruby’s driveway to my car there was a small explosion on the phone pole in front of Ruby’s house. That pole houses a transformer and a couple of black box pieces of equipment connecting a bunch of the power lines. One of the black boxes popped, banged, sparked and sizzled. It was basically a small explosion. Upon seeing that I instantly did a big “uh-oh” and headed back into the house to see if the power was still on. With no power and no a/c that house was going to bake in the sun and within just a couple of hours become an oven for those dogs to be in.
Once inside the kitchen I was surprised to find the lights went on. But after a few moments I heard the refrigerator going off…then back on…then off…then on; same with the microwave. So I knew we were going to have a power problem and started trying to find a number for Connecticut Light & Power. Remember, I was over the state line! I have Con Ed’s emergency number programmed into my cell phone, but I didn’t have CLP’s number in there (I do now!) and the pet owners (who are renting the house) hadn’t left it anywhere for me. As I was trying to get the CLP emergency number via 411 on my cell phone, I started to smell something electrical burning. It was very faint, and at first I thought it was coming from the phone pole out front, so I went outside to make sure that wasn’t on fire. It wasn’t. I couldn’t get through to anyone at CLP so I ran next door to the Landlord’s parents’ house (a very nice older couple) to see if they had the CLP emergency number handy (they didn’t either). So I asked them to come back to the house with me to see if they smelled what I smelled, and as soon as we all walked back inside it was evident to us all that yes, something indeed smelled like an electrical fire and it was getting stronger. It wasn’t a “hint” or a “whiff” anymore. Something was burning.
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I flew into action warp-speed and called 911 while slapping leashes on the two dogs and rushing them out of the house. They got tied to a couple of heavy lawn chairs at the far side of the yard in the shade away from the house with bowls of water. After about a five minute delay while I got transferred from the CT State Police (why did my 911 cell call from a residential home go to the State Police??!?), I finally got Greenwich FD on their way. They showed up within minutes. Several trucks arrived and about a dozen firemen came into the house and started inspecting things. Within moments of ruling out the kitchen appliances and anything in the basement (I thought the smell was coming through the central a/c floor vents and was concerned there was an electrical fire somewhere in the a/c system), one of the Fire Fighters looked behind the t.v.
He pulled up the power strip. The same one we all have in our homes. The one that we plug several cords into at once. Surge protection, we think, for our computers, t.v.s etc. Safe, we think. Well, this power strip was blackened, melting and still smoldering, no flames, no sparks, but clearly not in good shape. He held it up and my stomach went into a knot. I asked him, “If I had left five minutes earlier, missed the explosion on the power lines out front and not come back in here to check on things, not come back for four or five hours, was that thing possibly going to catch fire and burn this house down?” And his answer was that yes, quite possibly that could have happened. I could have left for a few hours thinking all was well and come back to a charred house, two dead dogs (one of them MINE), a dead bunny (who was upstairs) and no home for my clients to return to.
The power company and the Landlord and the Fire Marshall showed up and I let them all hash it out. In the meantime I moved the Bunny to the cooler basement (she was on the top floor with an a/c and soon would be baking in the hot house) and made sure everyone knew if there were further problems there was a bunny in the house that needed rescuing. I packed up Ruby’s food and bowls and put her and Cozy in the car to relocate them to another cool spot for the rest of the day and evening. I simply didn’t feel comfortable having them alone at the house at that point, and didn’t know how long before the power would come back on.
It all worked out well, no damage was done to the home, everyone was safe, Ruby’s family was home the next night as planned. But in ten years of pet sitting, that was the biggest scare I’ve ever had and it was a sobering lesson for me.
Here are some tips to try to prevent anything awful happening at your home while you are away and your pets are in the house by themselves between Pet Sitter visits:
*Make sure you leave the Pet Sitter ALL numbers for local emergency responders!
Don’t just count on 911. Leave them the direct dial numbers for Fire and Police as well as the Gas/Electric Utility Company. Leave them a neighbor’s number and if there is a Landlord or Site Manager or Building Super, leave them that contact info also. I suggest everyone print it up and leave it easily visible on the refrigerator.
*UNPLUG EVERYTHING!
I *do* mean everything, with the only exception being your refrigerator and a/c’s if it’s summer time. While it makes me nervous to leave air conditioners running 24/7 like we have to do when we have weeks like this past one, you do need to keep the homes cool enough for the pets. If you have any power strips plugged into outlets, just unplug them. For any non-essential appliances, lamp, t.v. etc. that won’t be in use while you are gone: just un-plug them, including your washer and dryer. If the Pet Sitter needs to use something, they can plug it back in.
*POST “RESCUE PETS” NOTICES!
Make sure that you have notices visibly posted in windows/doors on front and back of home that there are ANIMALS inside. Make sure you outline how many animals and which types (dogs, cat, bunny etc…). Fire Fighters won’t know to rescue them if they don’t know they are in there.
For a video of the culprit power strip, you can click on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSV3FURymvo&feature=youtu.be
If anyone has similar experiences or suggestions to avoid disaster, feel free to share in the “comments”!
Stay cool this summer and stay safe!
(Deirdre Curran of Curran’s Pets has been a Professional Dog Walker/Pet Sitter serving Rye, Rye Brook, Port Chester, Harrison, NY and limited areas of Greenwich, CT since 2003. She is available for regular daily dog walks, pet care on an “as needed” basis, overnight stays in the home as well as pet care advice and counseling focusing on Senior issues and pre-acquirement pet advisement.)
Web Site: http://www.curranspets.com
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