3|1|Really good reminder especially about "not just once, but talk to them repeatedly..."|sunriver|sunriver@gmail.com|13:21:54|10/27/2010|I should have posted this last week during National Fire Prevention Week, but wasn't online. For those who don't know or don't remember, 4 years ago (almost to the day) I awoke to a very faint beeping sound. I opened my bedroom door & smoke had completely filled my home. Seeing anything and breathing was extremely difficult. Because my kids bedroom doors were shut & not filled with smoke, I was thankfully able see enough to get my 5-year-old and my 4-week-old baby out safely. I had three smoke alarms in my home. I am embarrassed to say only one of them had a working battery & it was located on the opposite end of my house in my laundry room with the door shut. I urge all of you to install alarms that sense both onization (alarms sense fast, flaming fires) and photoelectric models (better detect the smoke from slow smoldering ones.) Batteries should be replaced at least once per year. Some recommend New Year's Day, others recommend when daylight savings begins & ends. If my smoke alarms would have been properly working, I would have been able to get out with my two kids before my house filled with smoke & before the smoke damage had been done. I currently have alarms in every single room in my house. If you use propane/gas in any part of your home please also install CO2 detectors. I personally like the alarms that "beep" and "talk".
If you have children, please also practice fire safety drills. This is something I had done with my oldest son twice & he had a fireman at his school the same week of our incident. When my house was filled with smoke, my kid actually would not get down and crawl like I asked him to & like the fireman said, & like we had practiced 3 days previously even though we could see the very the very bottom of the floor was clear. In addition, once outside, I buckled my baby in his carseat & when I turned around, my 5-year-old was gone. He had went back into our house to get his dog. I can't even begin to explain how incredibly sick that made me. When I tried yelling (screaming) out to him he didn't answer & I couldn't see him. I only found him because I walked right into him. He was standing in our smoke filled living room because he couldn't see where he was going. Now, we had just discussed to NEVER go back inside but kids have to have that drilled into their heads. I asked him why he did that and his response was, "Mommy, you and the fireman said not to go back into a burning house. Our house wasn't burning, it was just smokey." We now practice a fire drill the first Saturday of every month. We practice in the day, we practice in the middle of the night when he is sound asleep & everything is dark. We practice in the snow, rain, wind. We practice me getting him up & out; we practice him getting out by himself. We practice where to go & many different possibilities. He is now 9 and I feel because of the monthly talks and practice he would know what to do in any situation that comes up. You can't just do it once or twice and think they have it because they don't. Sorry to ramble....this is just really important to me. :) I hope you all stay safe.
http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/226.html
1|1|One more reminder. :)|aceofbase|adeberry@wvdsl.net|23:06:21|10/26/2010|
http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/226.html
2|1|thanks|smiles|mrsbettygreen@yahoo.com|23:50:29|10/26/2010|
3|1|Really good reminder especially about "not just once, but talk to them repeatedly..."|sunriver|sunriver@gmail.com|13:21:54|10/27/2010|
I need to find a collapsible ladder for the upstairs in this house. 2 kids sleep upstairs and one is down as well as DH and my room. I already keep an extinguisher on both floors and taught them what to do and how to use the extinguisher if needed, but your post hits home and I will keep talking and teaching because of it.
Thanks!