So thankful for my evacuation plan!

[LovieLuvr]

Thanksgiving is pretty much here and I am so thankful to still have our home tonight. I was baking in the kitchen and my husband was sitting by the fireplace watching TV and all of a sudden someone begins banging on our front door. We were told that we had to evacuate our home immediately because our chimney was on fire! My husband and I already had a set plan and we put it into action. He took care of getting the dogs out, while I grabbed the birds. I always have a pillow case with their small travel cases next to their cage. I grabbed each bird, put them in their pillow case and ran out the door. I got in my car and put them in their travel cage and covered the cages to make them more comfortable while the 5 fire trucks surrounded my house. It was such a scary experience, but I'm happy all my furry/feathered children are safe and my home is still here.

Our chimney was just cleaned last week and the firefighters said that it was the best thing we did. Or else we would have lost our home. The fire was caused by 3 birds nests that caught fire between the chimney wall. Word of advice to everyone...ALWAYS have an evacuation plan no matter what. Some people would roll their eyes at me when I told them about my evacuation plan and included my birds. But I didn't realize how prepared I would be and tonight I am very thankful.

 

[Birdiemarie]

OMGoodness, Christina! I'm so relieved everyone is ok! And bravo for your evacuation plan!

 

[RoxieW]

Wow, so glad you all made it safely

I have my travel cages ready but never thought about how long it would take to put my fids in them. The pillowcase is a great idea! Then put them in later when everyone is safely outside.
I'm going to put some next to their cages tonight !

I'm so sorry about the fire, but glad you are all safe !

 

[zoo mom]

So glad everyone is safe.

 

[Agapornis]

Wow, how scary! So glad everyone got out safe. So you put the bird in the pillow case, THEN put them in the cage? I'm not sure I understand... Is the pillow case to protect them from smoke? Don't they get scared in there?

I'm definitely going to get an evacuation plan now, thanks for the reminder!

 

[Lo_]

Such a good plan!! So glad everyone is okay and that you all made it out safely, and your home wasn't destroyed

 

[QBird]

Oh my I am pleased you made it out safely, I do hope that there was minimal damage to the house. What a worrying event to have to go through.

 

[LovieLuvr]

Wow, how scary! So glad everyone got out safe. So you put the bird in the pillow case, THEN put them in the cage? I'm not sure I understand... Is the pillow case to protect them from smoke? Don't they get scared in there?

I'm definitely going to get an evacuation plan now, thanks for the reminder!

I used the pillow case to get them out of the house quickly. Then I transferred them into their travel cage when I was in a safe place. After they were in the travel cages, I used the pillow case as a cover to prevent them from getting stressed out with all of the flashing lights.

This is the article I read earlier this year that helped me become more prepared: How To Evacuate Parrots When You Only Have Seconds

 

[itzmered]

So glad everything is ok

 

[MommyBird]

This is the article I read earlier this year that helped me become more prepared: How To Evacuate Parrots When You Only Have Seconds

Thanks for the link. I live in a wildfire area and there were some great ideas there! I hope everyone will read it.

 

[expressmailtome]

I am glad that you, your husband and your pets are safe.

Matt

 

[Chantilly Lace]

Oh my goodness, that is so scary! I also have pillowcases by the cages, and if I had to, I could roll their cages out our sliding glass door. I always worry I couldn't catch Phoenix, if he sees me stressed, he assumes I will be taking him to the vet! So he never comes out. I guess no more fires for awhile!

 

[Chopper]

I'm glad that you got out and thanks for the pillowcase idea.
I would be able to get my birds and dog out and a couple of my cats but one cat would run and hide.
My only hope would be that he would come out while the doors and windows were open.

 

[Danita]

Thank goodness you were all okay!!!
Scary

 

[Greycloud]

How terrible scary!! I am so glad all of you are OK! Thank you for sharing your experience so that others will hopefully be prepared too.

 

[Karen]

 

[Birdbabe]

 

[alcmene]

So glad you and your family (human and animal are all ok)!

 

[Karen]

I was thinking about your plan and it's perfect execution and am so glad it went well. What a stressful situation as well as a relief things went well.

For years I have had the typical emergency plan in place, but after giving it serious thought the other day and visualizing the process in my mind, I realized it's terribly faulty for my birds. My birds go into a full panic mode if the smoke detector goes off. It's full on wings flapping and falling all over the place, one of my birds has previously seized twice from sensory over load. So when I was going over in my mind what would actually take place during an emergency it wasn't a comforting thought. As yet, I don't have a revised plan in place.

 

[VictoriaVague]

So glad everyone is safe and your home is okay