During Colorado’s Marshall Fire in 2021, about 1,000 pets died, including many that were home alone. That prompted the development of an app to help other pets avoid similar fates.

Now that free app, Pet Help & Rescue, is available in iPhone and Android app stores. It’s a messaging app that allows trusted neighbors to enter your home and evacuate your pets when you’re away.

Once you download the app, you enter contact information for yourself and info about your pets — for example, their names and descriptions, photos, favorite hiding spots, and the location of any meds and Go bags. Next, you invite chosen neighbors to enter their contact data.

Then if you’re away during an emergency, the app can send an urgent message out to all your contacts. They’ll know what to do next.