I've recently had a lot of anxiety about the status of our home fire safety situation. I just want to make sure that I have done my part to set my family up for success in the awful event that we ever had a house fire. I hope we never, ever need to worry about a house fire, but there is a certain responsibility I feel to prepare for the worst. Maybe it is a Mom thing.
I have three babies, 3 and under. All of our bedrooms are upstairs and we don't have any other way out of the house except the one stairway. My Mom encouraged me to get a window ladder to keep upstairs "just incase". I had never actually thought about needing a second escape route. But the reality is, if the stairway was blocked somehow, we would be trapped - or jumping out a second story window. Therefore, my first tip:
#1. Fire Escape Window Ladder. If you have a two story house with no second escape route - purchase a fire escape ladder. It's worth the peace of mind.
#2. Fire Blanket. Such a useful tool in your fire safety kit. You can wrap yourself up in it as a shield against fire. You can throw it onto a fire to extinguish it. This is your multi-tool of fire safety.
#3. Fire Extinguishers. It is recommended that you at least have one extinguisher on each floor of your home and in the kitchen for easy access. I would say that the garage would be another good spot to keep one for easy access. Yes, extinguishers expire and need to be replaced occasionally. The benefit of having a fire extinguisher handy outweighs the responsibility of keeping them updated. The acronym PASS is helpful to remember when operating a fire extinguisher:
P- Pull the pin.
A- Aim low - aim at the base of the fire.
S-Squeeze the lever steadily and evenly.
S- Sweep side to side.
Check out this handy fire extinguishers guide for more information.
#4. Smoke Alarms. We recently updated our house to current fire code which indicates that your house should have a smoke alarm in each bedroom, one in the common area outside the bedrooms, one in the kitchen and at least one other alarm on any other floor of the house. Our house originally (and until recently) only had two: one in the kitchen and one in the common area upstairs.
Smoke alarms are super inexpensive and easy to install - no special screws - just straight into the drywall. The only maintenance required is a once a year battery change.
#5. Escape Plan. This one has always stressed me out. My biggest concern is that there could be so many different variables in a fire that how could you ever plan for it. I did some reading and the biggest idea behind this is just to talk about it with your family. Decide where you will meet outside if there is a fire. Remind the family that they are not to try to take anything out of the house except themselves. If you are like me, with three littles, you just decide who grabs who. If you have fire blankets and extinguishers, you practice using them. You listen to the sound of the alarm together to make sure everyone knows what it sounds like.
Hopefully, you will never, ever, ever need to use these things. But if you do, you will be glad you prepared for the worst. Updating your home to be fire safe is a small investment for peace of mind.
I've linked some of these fire safety products to our MBP Amazon Store for easy access.
-Jessie
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This is a great list. I saw on the news back around the holidays where you actually should replace smoke detectors every so often because the sensors go bad. They said to hold a smoking candle under yours to check to see if it is still detecting smoke.
ReplyDeleteYes! It's true. They get gunky from oils or dirt and they don't work .Thanks for that additional info!!!
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