Fire Dept. Says No Heat Lamps for Pets

Published 02/04 2014 06:04PM

Updated 02/04 2014 06:29PM

by Victoria Price

hey may seem like a bright idea, but using heat lamps for your pets can actually be a major fire hazard for your home.

"The doghouse itself is a combustible. They may have hay, straw, blankets," according to LFD's Chief Rob Keinast. "So you have those combustibles in contact with a heat source, and it starts a fire inside the dog house very quickly, and for something that starts very small, it can quickly consume your entire residence."

With temperatures expected to stay below freezing for the next couple of days, it's important to keep pets' safety in mind.

Best case scenario is to bring the pet inside. But if that's not possible, there's still steps you can take to make sure your pet's a hot dog, and not a pup-sicle.

"Take the dog house, we want it out of the wind, out of the precipitation," Keinast says. "It's fine to put it on the porch, insulate the doghouse, put in some bedding so the pet is off the concrete. Get it off the ground if it's out in the yard."

Just make sure to stay away from anything with a power cord.

"No type of heat sources. No space heaters, no heat lamps, no high wattage bulbs in there," Keinast says. "They can very quickly can start a fire."

It's also important to remember it's against state law to keep a dog tethered outside with limited mobility during inclement weather. That means any time the temperature drops below 32 degrees.
