Where would you meet?

I've been going through papers ... again ... and came across a few I had been reluctant to toss. They date back to my teaching days ... a few brochures I picked up one year at a Fire Prevention Week assembly.

I remember going through the points with my children every few years, when they were still living at home: Where would we meet if we were all running out of a smoke-filled house? What exits could we use if we were upstairs ... or in the basement ... and the stairway was blocked with smoke?

Did I really need these reminders of what to do and what not to do in the event of a fire...? I looked them over and tossed them out ... then (to be on the safe side) yelled at Terry, who was watching TV in the next room... "Where would we meet if a fire broke out in the house and we weren't together?"

"In front of Bill's."

Good, he remembered our old plan... (People sometimes rush back into a burning building to try to save loved ones, who may, in fact, have left the building. This usually happens when they haven't seen them outside... So establishing a meeting place is important.)

"Just checking!"

The fire prevention assembly at our school was often led by one of the teachers I worked with, who was also a volunteer fireman in the small town where he lived. I remember him telling me that he never traveled without a roll of duct tape in his suitcase.

"If the fire alarm ever goes off in the hotel I'm in, if I can't get to an exit easily, I put duct tape around the door to seal out the smoke - people usually die of smoke inhalation in a fire," he said.

I also remember him reminding us that fire needs oxygen to burn - so if a frying pan catches on fire, cover it with a lid - the fire will go out...

I remember another critical tip from a different Fire Prevention Week assembly. If you smell smoke, wake everyone up and get them out - BEFORE you investigate the source of the smell...

Passing on that tip was a guest speaker who spoke from his own tragic experience... He and his son-in-law - who was up with the baby - had been watching TV late one night while the rest of the family slept. When they smelled smoke, they went outside to investigate, not thinking that their house was on fire. They didn't wake the rest of the family up... so they all perished in their sleep. The distraught father and son-in-law had been unable to go back in.

I was recently staying with a relative, where I slept in a basement bedroom. I appreciated it when they showed me how to dislodge the bars in the windows in case of a fire... (It's easy to assume nothing will ever go wrong...)

And finally - a tip I picked up from another relative who had to vacate her home when a house down the street sprang a gas leak: Try to take all essential medicine with you if you have to evacuate. In fact, keep it in a bag near the door, in case you have to leave quickly. It takes time to get a prescription filled, and sometimes (as in her case), you don't know how long you will be gone...

These are a few of the safety pointers people need to think about from time to time. I'm sure the internet has more. I noticed some on Wikipedia.

Families should discuss fire safety regularly - and people who live alone should take time to reflect on what they would do if they ever smelled smoke or needed to evacuate home quickly. It never hurts to have a plan.

There! Having said all that, I can toss my fire safety brochures away, knowing that I can review them here and online.

But then again, maybe I should have kept them... to rediscover and review again on another tidying-up day!