Are You Prepared In Case of a Fire?

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On Sunday night just as I was climbing into bed and getting all comfy and  cozy warm and just as I was starting to drift off into the wonderful world of dreamland, I all the sudden get rudely awakened by a loud and obnoxious screeching noise.  A little disoriented I tried to figure out where in the world this piercing noise was coming from. At first I thought my DH’s Sonic Care toothbrush had blown up or something since he had just been brushing his teeth, but I quickly realized this was not the case.  As I scrambled to get out of bed I glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after midnight.  What was going on I thought?  I ran out to our hallway and was promptly greeted by Rudy brushing his teeth and frantically waving his hand in the air next to the fire alarm trying to disperse the imaginary smoke.

Not knowing if our smoke alarm was merely malfunctioning or whether or not there was indeed a real fire in our 27 unit apartment building, I dashed to our front door and felt the door handle.  It didn’t feel warm at all so I opened the door and realized that all of the fire alarms in the building were creating a painful racket.   Without quite panicking, we hurried to get ourselves ready to get out of the building.  We threw on our shoes, grabbed our jackets, stuffed Rudy’s wallet, keys and cell phone in his pockets and ran to the kids room to whisk them off into the bitter cold night.  During all of this I thought to myself, do I grab our pictures?  Diapers?  Anything else?  I figured all of these were secondary concerns and besides which I didn’t have time to think any further, so we each picked up a blissfully sleeping child who amazingly had slept through all this terror.I grabbed a binkie and blanket, and we were then on our way to speedily exit our building from the third floor.

On the way down the stairs, we thought we caught a whiff of smoke and that made us hurry even faster.  Once outside all of us tenants gathered in the chilly 20 degree weather and curiously looked up at our building.  Nothing seemed to be going on.  The firefighters soon arrived and went into our noisily blaring complex.  After about half an hour they exited and told us all was safe and we could return to our home.

I am so thankful nothing really happened (they think there was a faulty heat sensor that caused the uproar), but it did get me thinking.  Are we really prepared in case there is a fire emergency?  Luckily we got a dry run through to show us this because I didn’t even grab the diaper bag as we raced out the door … that is what happens when you get woken up in the middle of the night and you are in a somewhat panicking mode. 

Did you know that every 15 seconds a fire department responds to a fire somewhere in America?  Did you know that most fire deaths and injuries happen in peoples homes, even though that is not the place where most fires happen?  Did you know that 58% of people think they have two minutes or more to escape from a fire in their home?  Did you know that 24% of people think they have over 10 minutes to get out?

Hopefully we will never be a part of those statistics.  Here are 13 ways that we can make sure we are prepared.  (All tips compiled from a handout from our local fire department.)

1. Plan your escape route today.  Plan alternate routes as well.
2. Plan what you need to grab in case of a fire.  Remember you don’t have much time.  Saving lives is what is most important.  Most everything else can be replaced.
3. Practice your escape or in other words, have home fire drills.  Have someone press the button on the smoke alarm to signal the start of it.  This way everyone can learn what the alarm sounds like.  Make sure everyone can gather at a predetermined meeting place in under 2 minutes.  Have someone pretend to call 911.  Do they know what they need to tell the dispatcher?  Teach your toddlers and preschoolers as much of this information as you can.
4. Make sure you have working smoke alarms.  You should have one on every level of your house and you should have one in every sleeping area.
5. Check your smoke alarms regularly.  Make sure the batteries are changed yearly. 
6. Vacuum your smoke alarms monthly.  Dust and cobwebs will make them less sensitive.
7. Do you need an escape ladder?  If so, do you know how to use it?  Does everyone know where it is stored?
8. Have a working fire extinguisher on hand in an easily accessible place.  Make sure you know how to use it – remember the P.A.S.S. word.  Pull, aim, squeeze, sweep then get out.
9. Keep matches, lighters and other flammable items out of the sight and reach of children.  When you are using them, model safe behavior for your kids.
10. Make sure exit paths are free of furniture and other obstacles that might make escape difficult.
11. Keep things that can burn away from the fireplace, radiator, heater and other heat sources.
12. Use electrical outlets appropriately.  Don’t overload them.
13. When exiting a burning building, close all doors as you pass through them.

 For more fire safety information, click here. 

Unfortunately last night just as I was originally getting ready to write this post, we had another smoke alarm go off.  Once again we had to exit the building with sleeping kids in the cold winter night, but at least this time we were more prepared.  Thankfully, the firefighters quickly declared the building safe again, but obviously our owner needs to figure out what is causing the malfunction.  I feel badly for our poor apartment manger who has to stay up during the night and conduct 15 minute fire watches to make sure everything is really safe. 

I am hoping that tonight we can have a calm and uninterrupted night of sleep.

For more Thursday Thirteen participants, click here.

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