(Disclaimer: No animals were killed in this incident only one injury to front leg which my vet took care off!)
So I got the motor tuned at the marina and had it ready for a long weekend at the the trailer down on the Bay of Quinte. Packed up everything including the Wife, 2 kids and dog (Oscar) into the Jimmy. Hooked up the boat and remembered my battery which had been charging the night before. Boat was all closed up so I put the battery in the back of the Jimmy and tied it down to prevent it falling over. Everything was good or so i thought.
On the last leg of the journey we stopped to let the dog do his business and my wife put him back in the car and we set off. I was sitting at some lights waiting to turn left and noticed an orange glow reflection in the back window and proceeded to turn left very quick and pull over to investigate.
During the left turn I looked back to see the orange glow gone and my dog climbing over the back seat into the rear seat area of the Jimmy. He was on fire!!!
I got out and grabbed one kid while my wife grabbed the other and tried to grab the dog!
I ran to the back of the car and opened the trunk to find the dogs blanket on fire! I tugged it out of the car and ran to the boat as I have a fire extinguisher in there.
After all flames were extinguished I went to my wife and we checked everybody out and luckily I was the only one that suffered and injury! Red hot chain in blanket that burned my hand pretty good.
So after everything calmed down I stood there trying to figure out how my dog set my car on fire?? I discovered that the last time the dog was taken out of the car to do his business my wife had left his leash on which is a metal chain being that my dog weighs in at about 110lbs. The dog had somehow put the chain on both terminals of the battery and shorted it out for long enough that we had a fire. I was totally taken aback that this had happened and very glad that everyone was able to get out of the car safely.
Oscar made it out with one burn to his front paw the size of a dime which we are treating and got a good scare out of the incident.
I will not put anything into the back of my car again that my dog could possibly try to harm himself with. My car is totally unsellable now as when the dog was trying to flee the inferno the other half of the red hot chain was hanging from his collar and everything it touched combusted including all the seats in the car.
Guess you live and learn. I did feel very stupid after this incident unfolded!
So I got the motor tuned at the marina and had it ready for a long weekend at the the trailer down on the Bay of Quinte. Packed up everything including the Wife, 2 kids and dog (Oscar) into the Jimmy. Hooked up the boat and remembered my battery which had been charging the night before. Boat was all closed up so I put the battery in the back of the Jimmy and tied it down to prevent it falling over. Everything was good or so i thought.
On the last leg of the journey we stopped to let the dog do his business and my wife put him back in the car and we set off. I was sitting at some lights waiting to turn left and noticed an orange glow reflection in the back window and proceeded to turn left very quick and pull over to investigate.
During the left turn I looked back to see the orange glow gone and my dog climbing over the back seat into the rear seat area of the Jimmy. He was on fire!!!
I got out and grabbed one kid while my wife grabbed the other and tried to grab the dog!
I ran to the back of the car and opened the trunk to find the dogs blanket on fire! I tugged it out of the car and ran to the boat as I have a fire extinguisher in there.
After all flames were extinguished I went to my wife and we checked everybody out and luckily I was the only one that suffered and injury! Red hot chain in blanket that burned my hand pretty good.
So after everything calmed down I stood there trying to figure out how my dog set my car on fire?? I discovered that the last time the dog was taken out of the car to do his business my wife had left his leash on which is a metal chain being that my dog weighs in at about 110lbs. The dog had somehow put the chain on both terminals of the battery and shorted it out for long enough that we had a fire. I was totally taken aback that this had happened and very glad that everyone was able to get out of the car safely.
Oscar made it out with one burn to his front paw the size of a dime which we are treating and got a good scare out of the incident.
I will not put anything into the back of my car again that my dog could possibly try to harm himself with. My car is totally unsellable now as when the dog was trying to flee the inferno the other half of the red hot chain was hanging from his collar and everything it touched combusted including all the seats in the car.
Guess you live and learn. I did feel very stupid after this incident unfolded!
We are all safe which is what matters.