Practicing fire safety in our home changed when we had kids. I never considered, as an adult how to “get out of the house safely” in the event of a fire, until kids came into my life. I always knew that it was important, but I think I have taken for granted the common sense sort of things since I’m not at home with my own parents anymore.
So, the first time my son asked, “where is our safe meeting place?” I was dumbfounded. This was something I remembered vaguely from when I was a child, but hadn’t thought about in years! It was early October and the his preschool had a fire safety curriculum because of Fire Prevention Week. Had we really gone 4 years (and 2 kids) without a safety plan?
It took some quick collaboration as a family, but we immediately formed our plan and to this day, we practice our plan, every year during Fire Prevention Week.
In the event of a fire the important thing to do is GET OUT! We are lucky, we have exterior access from the second floor of our home as well as in the attic to go into the garage. We’ve determined that if there was a fire on the main level of the house, we have escape routes, as well as a ladder in the bathroom closet that can be thrown out the window if necessary. If the fire is upstairs, we get downstairs as safely as possible and we leave ALL OF OUR TOYS behind, even our favorite teddy bears.
Our safe meeting place is the tree across the street from our house. Our neighbors know we are using their tree and also know that if they see a fire, they should expect us in their yard promptly. We have a head count, all 4 family members and 1 dog and then we make sure 911 has been called.
Each year, during Fire Prevention Week, we cover all aspects of fire safety. We go around as a family and check the batteries in all of our fire alarms and make sure the alarms are functioning. We go over our safety exit plan and then we TALK. We communicate fire hazards and how fires can start. We even still talk about the dangers of playing with matches. My kids now 13 and 11 kinda snicker and roll their eyes when it comes down to it these days, but it’s nothing to laugh about if there were a fire. We are as prepared as we can be.