Pets & Household Fires

[Anchor Lead]

Next we have a warning for pet owners. A fire that broke out in an empty house recently was found to have been caused by a household pet. Let’s find out more.

[Pkg]

An electric stove in the kitchen is completely charred. The area around the stove has also been burned. A fire broke out in this one-bedroom apartment on the evening of July 21 while the owner was away. The presumed cause of the blaze is none other than the owner's cat.

[Soundbite] Apartment Owner : "My cat jumped onto the induction stove and accidentally turned it on. The trash that was on the stove began to burn."

Firefighters have found no other cause of the fire beside the cat.

[Soundbite] Song Moon-keun(Daejeon Dongbu Fire Station) : "We believe that the cat stepped on the induction stove and turned it on while the owner was away."

On the same day, a fire broke out in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi-do Province. It also occurred after a cat stepped on an electric stove. Cases of pets accidentally turning on cooking devices and causing fires have become quite common. Felines can easily climb onto high places near cooking devices in the kitchen and even turn on smartphones. Experts urge pet owners to pull out power cords before leaving their homes and to keep flammable items away from cooking devices.