By Tim Binnall
In an odd story out of South Korea, officials are urging homeowners to keep a closer eye on their pets as a staggering number of house fires over the last three years are believed to have been caused by cats. The weird warning reportedly came by way of city of Seoul's fire department, which indicated that felines are thought to be responsible for a whopping 107 such blazes since January of 2019. The strange trend, they say, has come about due to push-button electric stoves which can be ignited by an animal's paws.
One worrisome aspect of the situation is that, of the dozens of cat-caused fires which have been documented by the department over the last three years, around half of the incidents occurred when residents were not at home and their furry feline friends were free to explore their surroundings. Sadly, fire officials say that the animals usually do not survive the accidental infernos. With the fires continuing to happen with relative frequency, the department has understandably called attention to the problem and advised homeowners to activate a special safety feature on their stoves which will prevent them from being activated by errant paws.