Pop! The lights went out throughout the house. I ran to the basement and saw smoke seeping out of the electrical box. When close observation assured me that there was no actual fire, I proceeded to flip all the breakers, to no avail. I then tried every outlet in the house and fruitlessly flipped switches up and down. After discovering that a few outlets still worked, I rearranged plugs to keep our refrigerator and major appliances powered, and then relaxed with the family.
As bedtime approached, I suddenly recalled the smoking electrical box.
I live in an old house. An old wood house. We’ve had electrical wiring issues in the past. And the smoking wires had me on high alert. So before I went to bed, I did one more round in our house. This time I wasn’t checking plugs and lights, I was checking the fire alarms.
I’m a dad. I am the protector of my family. And there are certain things that I cannot protect my family against. But, there are some things that I can do to keep those that I love safe. And smoke alarms are such a simple way to make sure our families are safe.
After our power issues, I went through all of our smoke alarms to make sure the batteries worked. I was completely shocked to see that batteries were either expired or missing altogether, and one smoke detector was hanging by threads after being hit it a few times with a broom during a cooking incident.
How many of you reading this have a house full of working smoke alarms? How many of you don’t know if you have working smoke alarms?
How many of you would like a worry free smoke alarm? One that didn’t have to be checked and didn’t need new batteries every six months?
Luckily for all of us, Kidde has a smoke alarm on the market that includes a 10 year lithium sealed battery, which could set a lot of minds at ease. (And don’t worry, it’s also advanced enough to know the difference between burnt toast and an actual fire, which means that it won’t go off unnecessarily.) To purchase a Kidde Worry Free Fire Alarm, click here.
While it’s important to have working fire alarms, it’s also important to discuss fire safety with your kids. Here are some tips we picked up when we toured a fire station:
- Have a fire plan and practice it with your family. Designate a meeting spot away from the house.
- Know your two points of exit.
- Feel the door with the back of your hand before you open it. If it is hot, don’t open it.
- Stay low. Smoke rises, so if you are near the floor, you’ll have better air quality.
- If you can’t escape, then crawl towards a window. When a firefighter comes, the first thing they do is search by the floor of the window. Your child will have the best chance of being found by the window.
- Do not hide. This is especially important to reinforce with kids, who may be tempted to take cover in the face of danger. Remind them about the windows.
Kidde has found a way to help all of prepare our homes for fires and carbon monoxide by creating a short online quiz. Maybe the quiz might help some of you be better prepared in case of an emergency. To take the quiz, click here. If you are lucky enough to win the challenge, you will be able to donate smoke alarms to your local fire department.
* Disclosure: I have been compensated by Kidde for this post, but the opinions are my own.