I have always been terrified of house fires because of a tragedy in our family. My uncle was home alone with his five year old daughter when an electrical fire erupted in their home. He grabbed his daughter and carried her safely outside. Panicked, he knew he had to call the fire department and ran to a neighbor’s house to use the phone and left his daughter outside the home. Seeing all her possessions burning around her was too great of a temptation and she went back inside to grab some toys out of her bedroom. My uncle arrived back on the scene and discovered his daughter had gone back inside. Even though the house was now engulfed in flames, he ran through the back door to find her, just as the entire back wall came crashing down. The entire family was devastated and when I had children, I told them repeatedly, “I don’t care what it is that you want. Never, ever go back inside a burning building. Things can be replaced, but people cannot.”
That’s why I am a strong supporter of the Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery program, sponsored by Energizer and the International Organization of Fire Chiefs. Did you know, thirty-eight percent of fatal fire injuries occur in homes with no smoke alarms, while 24 percent occur in homes in which at least one smoke alarm is present but fails to operate, frequently due to dead or missing batteries? Saturday, November 2nd, we will be setting our clocks. This is the perfect time to check the batteries in your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. It may seem like a hassle, but it’s a simple step that will take fifteen to thirty minutes of your time and could save a life.
well we have came up with a fire drill drop low and find the nearest window or door that will lead u out but try the window first and never look back we will find u
I am OCD so I double check the house when leaving.We changed the alarm batteries and always carefully watch the stove when cooking and burning candles.
We change smoke detectors regularly, and we have an escape route, with an escape ladder in our house!
coriwestphal at msn dot com
We store a good working fire escape ladder near a window and know how to use it.
Our emergency plan is pretty much “grab the cats and run to the end of the street.” The fire station .5 miles away knows our road well (unwell neighbor that frequently needs assistance). I guess I should be more prepared, but it’s not something I really think about.
I prepare for fire safety by doing a run through so everyone knows where they are supposed to. I also replace all of the batteries in our smoke detectors.
I actually meant for the above comment to say “So everyone knows where they are supposed to go to…
to prepare for fire safety my family and I sit down and make a plan. Then we go through the plan together and we keep the plan in a place that we can always look back at it, and also every month we will have a fire drill to make sure we know the routine.
After fire safety week at my daughter school we changed the battery’s in our smoke detectors and have an escape plan! We feel better and learned some good tips from the fire department!
We have fire drills and a meeting place. I also have a fire extinguisher.
To prepare I keep a fire extinguiser in every room.
We have an escape plan with a meeting point. We also have smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and we keep our escape routes clear of any clutter.
We prepare for fire safety by the checking the smoke alarms often and keeping fire extinguishers on hand.
We prepare by making sure we change our fire alarm batteries. We also have a family meeting spot and evacuation plan.
Entered the rafflecopter as “Wild orchid”
Thanks for the chance to win!
wildorchid985 at gmail dot com
We have an escape plan, and have practiced it.
Its important to keep track of the fire alarms.
I prepare for fire safety by checking the batteries in the smoke alarm and changing them twice a year and also run tests every so often.
We have an escape plan and we practice it
Thanks for the reminder! I bought one of those clocks several years ago that automatically changes the time. I was so excited to never have to worry about that again. It was great for the first year… and then the government decided to go and change the time change dates… Now, instead of having to change my clock twice a year, I have to change it 4 times a year!!! So sad…
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
We have an escape plan, and we also change the batteries when we change the clocks.
We have fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, escape plans!
Sorry to hear about your loss. I make sure and change the batteries with the time changes twice a year. My kids are teenagers but we still talk about where to meet outside and not to spend time grabbing material items!
We have smoke alarms outside every room and we change the batteries every time there is a clock change. I read your story and I am so sorry for your loss!
We have smoke detectors that we check every couple of months. I never thought of an escape plan, guess I need to plan one out especially now that all my kids can walk.
We have smoke alarms and we are constantly talking about what to do if a fire ever broke out.
Great reminder! This is the first time change we’ve had in a home where we have to change the smoke alarm batteries and the landlord doesn’t do it for us – so now I can really remember!
We keep an alert reminder every 3 months to change fire alarm batteries
We change our battery every 6 months as well in our fire detector/carbon monoxide monitor. With kids in the house we can’t ever be too careful
To prepare for fire safety we keep a fire extinguisher and smoke alarms in the house in every bedroom and in other areas of the house.
We have an escape plan and go over annually.
pin as jacksondeb
bloglovin as mrsrodjac
We have three smoke alarms and two fire extinguishers and three doors!
We change the batteries when we change the clocks.
Plus there are baseball bats in the bedrooms if they need to go out a window.
We make sure we have our alarm batteries changed regularly and the kids are in school so they have regular fire awareness drills, thank God!
Oh Pam, this story is so devastating. Thanks for sharing this, it’s an important message for people and I am glad that Energizer is promoting this campaign.
I am afraid of house fires too! That is why I have two smoke alarms installed in my house.
We change batteries yearly and talk to the kids so they know what to do in case of a fire. Thank you for a great giveaway
We do have fire alrms, fire extinguishers and practice what routes to take out to prepare and practice fire safety!
In my own home I have escape plans & my cat carriers should there be a fire.
I do have smoke detectors in each room. We do have an escape plan and talk about emergencies.
We have a plan to grab the dogs and head out. We also check our smoke detectors frequently.
We created an escape plan, checked our alarm batteries, put our extinguisher in a safe and accessible place and are looking to buy an escape ladder
My husband and I are both retired from our local fire department so we have all kinds of safety plans in place. Fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, escape plan, plans in place for long term displacement including puppy dog sitters.
We never leave a room with a burning candle, or leave the house, or take a nap, with oven/stove on.
We will definitely check out smoke alarm batteries on Daylight Savings day!
I’m sorry to hear that sad story. I’ll be sure to tell my son that we always worry about PEOPLE and not things if there is a fire. He’s so tiny and I could see him running in for a teddy bear or something.
We have an emergency plan for our family.
Oh my goodness, that is such a terrible thing that happened to them! I’m so sorry!
I change the smoke alarm batteries every 6 months.
Oh my gosh, that is so horrifying. I am so sorry you had that tragedy in your family. Thanks for the reminder — definitely going to check all of our alarms.
We try to go over emergency safety every year.
What a tragic story, I am so sorry for your family’s loss. This is a very important message you are sharing. I tell my kids the same thing as you – I can replace THINGS, but not THEM. We talk about fire safety from time to time to keep our safety plan fresh on their minds.
We don’t really have a plan in place for fire safety or earth quake but we really should. thank you for the giveaway.
We check our fire alarms to make sure the batteries are good and we have extinguishers throughout the home.
We definitely have a fire safety plan! So important!
I prepare for fire safety by practicing our escape plan several times during the year.
Wow! What a tragedy! We prepare for fire safety by talking with our kids about an escape plan and reminding them that no THING is as important than their safety.
The thought of a house fire is horrid isn’t 🙁 we have 1 fire alarm plugged into the mains with battery back up and another two just on batteries you have reminded me I should really got and check those batteries thank you:) X
my family practices a fire escape plan twice a year and we change our smoke alarm batteries yearly.
I change the batteries in my smoke detectors and have fire extinguishers available. We also have a plan to escape out of the house easier and a place to meet up outside. Also, I have a plan to get my pets out safely.
we have a fire safety plan
I must say.. my Hubs and I have no plan… NONE, Zilch! Not good I know. And… Our smoke alarm broke and we haven’t yet replaced it. How stupid is that?
Oh my gosh, Pam, that is so sad. Very sorry for your loss and prayers for all who were affected. Thank you for sharing this valuable reminder. I will be discussing fire safety again with the boys tonight! We try to regularly talk about our plans.
We have a escape plan an a meeting place outside,,smoke dedectors to help us.
We have a meeting place and we change the batteries in the smoke detectors when the time changes.
i change my batteries on my son’s birthday every year that way i don’t forget or else i would forget to do so
That is horribly tragic. So sorry for your family’s loss.
Preach, preach, is all we can do. I will often try to bring up “What would you do if..” scenarios too. Gets them to talk about it.
Love that you can go to the website to draw up an escape plan! So smart!
This is a great prize pack because I always forget to buy batteries and it is best for me to have them on hand.
We have an escape plan and hopefully we never have to use it. This is important information – thanks for sharing.