Something about me: I am a stay at home mom (driver, cleaning lady, landscaper, chef, interior decorator, professional shopper- groceries that is!, bummy and boogie wiper, personal jungle gym, and hairdresser - did I miss anything?) of three adorable little girls, and one hardworking husband. I have a slight obsession with blogging, and have more recetly become obsessed with photography. I have always loved taking pictures, and have finally turned that love into a business. You can check out my blog HERE .
My sister's little boy is totally crazy about trucks, so when she found out that the local fire department gives free tours, she quickly scheduled an appointment for all of us to go check out the fire station. This little field trip literally ignited a fire in my brain! All I could think about was if my house was safe for my family to be living in (I'm a little obsessive about fire safety now too!). Well, after speaking to the firefighters I learned that I could have them over to my home for a free home inspection! I love free, so I thought, why not!
It was so much fun for the kids to see the big fire engine pull up in front of our house the morning of our inspection! Note to readers: if you do have a home inspection, notify your neighbors so they don't freak out when they see the firetruck in front of your house. Learn from my mistake!!!
So, I am going to share the great info I got with all of you! I hope you enjoy and learn something new or get a quick refresher course!
Did you know that over 400 children ages 9 and under die in house fires every year, and that children ages 5 and under are twice as likely to die in a fire as the rest of us? This is a scary fact since I have two little ones under 5 in my home! With this scary information comes hope! If we gain the knowledge we need about fire safety and do the things necessary to prevent fires in our homes we can reduce those numbers by 50%! Hooray!
So my first lesson is on where to place smoke detectors in your home. Definitely make sure there are smoke detectors on every level of your home! I'm not sure, but I think to be up to "code" in your home you should have a smoke detector in every room. That being said, there are two very important places to have smoke detectors in your home, but the most important one to ME is in each of my children's bedrooms!
The firefighters told me that most fires are started by children in their bedrooms. I totally believe this because when I was a kid I accidentally started a fire in my bedroom with a candle I had burning (sorry Mom and Dad, now you know why there is a black mark on your carpet in my old room. It wasn't pen after all!). I don't know about you, but when my kids find something they aren't supposed to have they tend to find a "secret" place to play with it. I'm sure you already know this one, but keep matches, lighters, etc. out of reach of the kiddos!
The other important one is in the kitchen area, but not too close to the cooking area unless you want it to beep every time you cook dinner! If you do start a fire while cooking, be sure not to douse the flames with water, always use baking soda or carefully place the lid on the pot to smother the flames.
Did you know that there are different kinds of smoke detectors? Who knew?!? The best kind are the Dual Sensor Alarms, and be sure to change the batteries every six months. A good way to remember is to change the batteries in you detectors when you change your clocks for daylight savings time, and once a month scare your little kids by pushing the test button to make sure they are working! I love doing this!!!!
Tips on what to teach your kids about fire safety:
Don't hide, get outside OR Get out, stay out.
Stop, Drop and Roll!
Stay low and go OR Fall and crawl
Always have an escape plan, and do "dress rehersals" of your escape plan often. It only takes 3 minutes for an entire house to to up in flames! Get your escape plan done in less than 3 minutes and you should be good!
Have your children learn about the equiptment the firefighters wear when they are entering a fire. They do look a little scary, and the last thing we want to happen is have a little one run away and hide from a firefighter! The firefighter at our station tour put on all of his gear and kept showing the kids that he was still just "Firefighter Jim" and that he wasn't scary! I highly recommend asking the firefighters to do this for your children. They all were a little scared, but I think it gave them the right idea!
I could go on and on about fire safety, but this post could get very long and very boring! I hope you learned something new today, and remember "Be Cool about Fire Safety"!
There are some really great websites out there to teach parents and kids about fire safety:
http://www.firesafety.gov/ (check out the kids section for fun games and quizzes)
http://www.befiresmart.com/ (this one is done by Liberty Mutual)
- Melissa
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5 comments:
Great post! Lots of useful information. My daughter's Pre-K class takes a "trip" to the local fire station every year so the kids can learn fire safety, climb into the truck and look around, and actually see the equipment.
Awesome post Melissa! Great tips and you know we love pictures! Thanks again!!
Great post, Melissa! I think it's so neat that you two scheduled for the fire department to come over! I bet the kids were in heaven! Such important info too! I also like the idea of having a exit from every room. If there is not door in the room that goes to the outside, have an emergency roll-down ladder available or installed in each room to escape from the windows that are too high.
Thanks again!
OH, and great photography business you have!
This is a great post! My husband is a firefighter so he drills this stuff into us all the time. It's especially important to have a pre-agreed upon "meeting place" in case there is a fire and everyone has to get out of the house quickly. Ours is our next door neighbor's front porch. The kids know if the smoke alarms go off and/or there is smoke or fire, they are to run to our meeting place. Thanks for sharing all these helpful tips.
Over from SITS saying hello!
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