Fire is not laughing matter. It can consume your home in a nominal amount of time. When a fire breaks out you have about a three minute safety window to get outside your house to safe ground. Do make sure to follow some reasonable tips to help you get there safely.
Nothing can assure that you get out safely or that you are alerted to the flames or smoke, but a few things can help to make sure that you have the best chance of getting out and staying alive.
1. Get Smoke Detectors and USE THEM! Sounds like common sense right? As a firefighter, you’d be amazed how many people we see every day who pull the battery from their smoke detector because it went off when they were cooking, smoking, baking something etc. etc. etc. Smoke detectors save more lives every year than all the firemen combined. It’s an early warning system that you simply should not be living without. Replace the batteries yearly and test them monthly to make sure that you have the alarm when you need it.
2. Do a twice a year check for frayed cords on lamps or appliances. Don’t leave your home when your drier is running. Turn off televisions and stereos. When your crock pot, toaster, coffee maker, or other electrical appliance is not in use, pull the plug. If you use heaters or oil radiators, check to be sure that they aren’t close to things like draperies, bedding, chairs, paper products and anything else combustible.
3. Keep your matches, lighters smoking materials and other things out of sight and out of the reach of kids. They find that flickering element simply fascinating. We’ve never seen a child yet who wasn’t just amazed by the fire. To a little one it’s tempting so keep the temptation out of their reach.
4. Plan a safe route out of each room. Speak to your children about fires and fire safety. It may seem to you that it’s a frightening thing for them to have to hear, but the fact is that it’s better to prepare them. In the unlikely event that you do have a fire, it’s far better to have a child who knows how to get out. They need to be well prepared and know where to go once they do get outside. Plan a meeting place and make sure that everyone knows to go there first rather than to run to a neighbor or elsewhere. Plan two ways out of each room. Offer those ideas or alternatives about how to get out of a window if they have to. Explain that the firemen and women will be wearing masks. Children often fear the people who are there to help them and hide from them. Very often parents neglect this part of a child’s education, banking on the fact that they won’t need to know. It’s far better to induce a small amount of fear than to leave a child completely unprepared for a situation that instills fear on its own accord. Practice fire drills at your home in the day and in the night until everyone knows the procedure.
5. Practice safety with wood stoves, electrical appliances, with candles and other forms of open flame. Never leave them unattended, particularly when children or pets are in the home, but any time is the wrong time to leave a lit candle without someone nearby.