Moms Talk: Fire Safety in the Home

This week is Fire Prevention Week and to talk to the kids about fire safety. 

What do parents do at home in terms of discussing fire safety? Does your family have a plan for getting out of the house? What kind of preventative measures do you take when cooking or messing around with potential fire hazards?

Lisa May
We have an escape plan, but we have not reviewed in a while. A fire drill might be a good idea for our family. 

A couple of years ago, we got all new windows in the house. The old ones did not open very well. It is important for the children to be able to escape on their own. I feel better with the new windows in this regard (we have a ranch, so a ladder is not needed at our house).

As for safety hazards in the house, we are careful that someone is always close by when cooking on the range. I never leave anything on when I leave the house (even to run out quickly). It can take planning while cooking dinner and picking up the children from activities. But, I would rather be safe than sorry. Also my oldest two are learning to cook, so I teach safety as it comes up. 

I can't wait to hear what the others say. I know this is very important, and I plan to review this week with the whole family.

Jennifer AuBuchon
Well, we have a fire extinguisher in our kitchen and numerous smoke detectors throughout our house, but I do not think we've ever officially discussed an "escape plan" since we've been in our new home.  

I guess this week's topic will be a good conversation starter for us. We do have a two-story home as well, which could make that escape more tricky. I hope we never need it, but we will definitely be talking fire safety at our breakfast table today!

Jenny Wescoat
We do absolutely nothing for fire awareness/prevention.

My kids learn about it at school, and I am very thankful for that, but I think I rely on the size of our small house for peace of mind. Our bedrooms are in a triangle in the middle of a four-way hallway, between the front and back doors so the fire would have to be in a very specific spot to block us from both entrances.

I do, however, lay in bed sometimes when my husband is out of town wondering who I should grab first if something like that happened in the middle of the night! 

In the kitchen, I am pretty careful with cooking. I have too many small hands around to ever leave something unattended, and we do a have a fire extinguisher right outside our kitchen door (whether I would remember what to do with it in an emergency remains to be seen).