If you read this last year, I ask you to bear with me and please read it again {for me}. If you think it can’t happen to you, think again. If you think it only happens in the daytime, think again. If you think your dog will wake you up, think again. If you think that you live in a new house, so it couldn’t happen to you, think again. If you pulled your beeping batteries out and keep forgetting to replace them, today is the day to do it!!
Thank you for hearing my heart.
I only post this because I care.
I never want anyone to have to go through what we went through.
{our little log home right after the fire started-
still makes me want to throw up looking at it}
I received an email today from a bloggy friend. I do not know this person
but it troubled me so much that I knew I had to write about it today.
Actually this post is a long time coming, her letter just spurred it to the forefront. Her letter involved concern for someone she deeply loves who does not have any working smoke alarms in her home.
So here are my thoughts…..it is utterly ridiculous in 2011 to live in a home, apartment, room, condo, shelter, cave, duplex, shed, shanty, houseboat or shack without a working smoke alarm. Anyone who entertains the notion that “it can’t happen to them” – H-E-L-L-O!!!
It most certainly can happen to you and to think otherwise is nuts. We are living proof that it can happen to anyone. If you had asked me 2 years ago, “Do you think your home will burn down?” I would have said, “Ummm, no!”
Let me just set the record straight: It is not a matter of faith or trust to NOT have a smoke alarm. It is a matter of plain ol’ stupidity. If it’s a matter of faith or trust, then sleep in the middle of a super highway.
And for the record, not one of my family would say there was anything “fun” about the fire or the aftermath. It has been a nightmare in many ways. God has been gracious and completely faithful, no doubt. But the idea that a fire “is no big deal” is insane. There was nothing so terrifying in my 51 years as seeing the little log home that I absolutely loved and felt safe in, in flames. The wood burning right before my eyes, the six kids we had living at home at the time sleeping, knowing I was racing against the clock…..oh my gracious! My kids would agree.
Yes, I am passionate about this and I beg you to head to the store tonight and buy a smoke alarm or batteries if you are in need of either. I recommend, since our fire, different brands of smoke alarms. During our fire, our THREE battery operated smoke alarms never even beeped once. Only one alarm beeped. Just one. The one that had been fixed less than 24 hours before.
If someone you love does not have a smoke alarm or batteries then I urge you to go buy them one and deliver it. Install it for them. At least take it out of the box, install the battery and put it in a high place in their home. Please, for me.
On my birthday this past year Dw took me to lunch at one of my favorite local restaurants. The owners are people that we occasionally visit with when we eat at their restaurant. They knew we had had a house fire and were asking us about it. In the midst of talking they brought up “we really should get some batteries for our smoke alarms.” WHAT?? I almost jumped out of my seat! “YOU DON’T HAVE SMOKE ALARMS OPERATING IN YOUR HOME?” “No, we keep forgetting to stop and get some batteries – and believe it or not we heat with wood!” I am sure my eyes were popping out of my head. These people are great people who own a nice restaurant. They appear to be bright. But what the heck?? I mean, REALLY, What in the world are they thinkin’?
{Elijah’s crib, where he had been sleeping, when the fire broke out}
I would love to believe that an almost bearable bi-product of our home burning down is that people we have contact with have become conscientious about getting smoke alarms and diligent about checking their batteries. That would make it almost worthwhile – to think that our fire saved some lives sometime, somewhere, someday.
If money is an issue, local fire departments give smoke alarms away for free (ours will even install it for you). If yours doesn’t give them away for free, email me and I will send you one. If you can’t afford a battery, email me and I will send you one of those! There is no excuse.
Before our fire I had a pile of smoke alarms that I gave away whenever I heard of someone who didn’t have one, or to our kids friends who have basement rooms but the smoke alarm is upstairs. Whatever the situation, I gave away whenever I heard of a need. I have been known to drive to people’s home late at night to deliver a smoke alarm. It is that important and there is absolutely no excuse for anyone not to have several working smoke alarms in their home.
I will personally mail you a smoke alarm if you don’t have one, just email me that you need one.
So here’s two questions:
Do you have working smoke alarms in your home?
Do you have some fire extinguishers that work in your home?
Do you have a carbon monoxide alarm? Does it work?
Do you know how to work your fire extinguishers?
Have you checked your smoke alarms lately??
{if you have done remodeling work, it could be that dust has gotten into them causing them to be unable to properly function. Please replace or check them!! Please.}
Please do it! And then let me know you did, k?
{About 2,200 people on an average stop by our Place Called Simplicity each day,
last year when I did this post, I got 63 comments. What is that saying? Ummm, not really sure. But that’s a really low number for the number of people coming by. So do this bloggy friend of yours a favor and let me know that you have checked them or replaced them or something! It’s that serious!! Thank you so much!}
thank you for sharing this. growing up in southern california and experiencing devastation that the wild fires brought to several friends and neighbors has given me a healthy fear of fire. We have it all… and I know the alarms work because I burnt popcorn the other night and boy did that alarm let me know about it!
Yes to all of your aforementioned questions! And I am honored to leave the first response.
Ok, Linny here it is: We are a licensed foster home. We meet our state requirements for the state fire code for 2 houses in our 1 home. We have 7 smoke alarms, 2 fire extinguishers and a carbon dioxide detector as well. There is a smoke alarm in every bedroom, hall, den, and kitchen. The fire escape plan is posted on the fridge at all times and we practice it. We talk about it. We even had my cousin who is a fireman come and check all of our windows and doors and smoke detectors and we are good.
I love that you love us enough to ask us. I love that the fire didn't change your mission, it only intensified it. I love that you will send out batteries and smoke alarms to help save lives. I love that you share about Jesus to HELP SAVE LIVES. I love it. I love you lady. You are pretty special, you are.
God is good, all the time!
i just checked mine…all working. thanks for the reminder! praying for you and your family…can't imagine how hard it is to think back on that day. 🙁
Ugh! I missed the first post while I was posting. So, here I am second again…
Thank you for posting this! We have many smoke alarms and fire extinguishers because my husband is a volunteer fire fighter. My friends had a fire at their house last summer and the only reason they got out of the house was because the dogs were barking and woke them up. Thank you for making more people aware!
Yes, I have working fire alarms, however, I don't have a carbon monoxide one. I will get it tomorrow and put it in the kitchen. Is that a good place for it?
Checking in to say that ours are working 🙂 Thanks for the reminder to check the carbon monoxide detector though…will do that next. Thanks for your willingness to send someone a detector or batteries. Very caring.
Hugs to you as you continue to work through the aftermath….
It takes a looonngggg time.
Blessings,
Lynnea
Our home has more than two levels so we have a dozen fire alarms and a carbon monoxide alarm in our home. This became important to us when we had a fire in our laundry room the night before easter back in the 80's. Our children were all sleeping on the level of the fire…we got them all out safely, but that fire along with the fire in my home when I was growing up (faulty wiring in the attic) has always kept me alert for the prevention of fires.
Good post Linny.
Just put new batteries in our last month. We replaced them all. Thanks for the great reminder.
We have 3 and are held accountable by our state because we are a foster home, but I have to say, I'm thinking we need to add more. Thanks for sharing. I don't comment much, but I love hearing what God is doing on your blog. Thanks for caring.
Check! 🙂 Have a great night! 🙂
~Gini
We have a smoke alarm in each of our bedrooms, Im on the "change your clocks- check your battery" habit 🙂 And our carbon mono detector is plugged into the bathroom right between our two bedrooms– I sleep better at night knowing its all plugged in and ready to go 🙂 Thanks for being so passionate about it- everyone needs it 🙂
We bought all new smoke detectors because ours were older than 10 years, but it took a couple months to finally get them put up! It's so easy to keep forgetting to do that task, but it only took a few minutes. And for your carbon monoxide detectors, make sure they aren't covered up! I smelled gas one frigid winter day and called 911, even though my husband didn't think we needed to. We had been using the gas dryer, the water heater had been running all day (lots of laundry) and the kitchen exhaust fan was running while we cooked. The firefighters' CO meter detected it, but ours never went off, because it was hanging on a storage shelf, and someone had hung a hat over it. They say CO is odorless, but I smelled gas that day, and I'm so glad I did!
We've got working detectors in every room of our house. Escape ladder for upstairs–check. Three working extinguishers that we know how to use–check. Three working carbon monoxide detectors–check.
We had a forest fire break out across the street last spring and had to be ready to evacuate. We've had several huge forest fires near our home in the last few years. We take it seriously… Thanks for caring, Linny! Important post.
Well, we know ours are all working (about 5 of them…) because all of them went off last night when I was trying to bake something and the oven started smoking because something had spilled in the oven. We cleaned the oven, but it was so comforting to know they all worked with such a little amount of smoke. Thanks for this post, my in-laws lost their home to a fire 2 weeks ago.. praise God they are okay. 🙂
Yes, we have working smoke detectors , 7 of them . I know a fire can happen , 9 years ago we were in bed reading when the doorbell rang , it was almost midnight . I went to the top of the steps and saw the flames on our front porch. Some kids driving on our street , set our corn husks on fire . The Lord surely had his hand on us , our neighbor was going to bed , he is a fireman , he saw the glow from his bed , raced over , rang our bell and was starting to put out the fire by the time we ran down. Our baby just home from China was in a crib right over where the fire was ..scary ! We went that very day and bought a ladder to hang out the window ,just in case .. Judy
We are up and running!
We have smoke alarms and because two of our three boys are working on cub scout badges, we know they work, we know where our fire extinguisher is, and we have our exit plan for our family.
Thank you Linny for bringing this to everyone's attention!
We are a licensed foster home and we check them regularly. We have several fire alarms on each floor and a carbon monoxide detector. Thanks for your love and care!
When you blogged about fear, it made me realized that one of my biggest fears is a fire in our home. Yet, we have not recently checked our smoke detectors and I am not even sure about if we have a fire extinguisher. These are things which we will be remedying in the near future.
I have a really cool dual alarm! Smoke AND Carbon Monoxide!
I'm here and listening!! As a licensed foster family we are required to have smoke alarms in every room…so yes, we have about 6 working smoke alarms! The fire department comes out to check them for us we he have to update our license. I also know they are working because they often times go off while we're cooking dinner. : )
Thanks for doing this post, Linny. I am grateful we are "forced" to have smoke alarms because of the ministry God has called us into. Otherwise, we might not have working ones.
Wow.
We have none of the above.
None.
And after reading your post, I see the need… again.
DH has been out of work for years, and just recently got a job. Although I read your post last year, there was no way I could buy smoke detectors. And honestly, life was so overwhelming that I soon forgot about it.
Asking the Lord to keep it at the front of my brain until I do something about it!! (We heat with wood…)
Good post. Thank you!
My 25 year old son is the Chief of our local volunteer fire company, my husband is the Asst. Chief. A few months back they had a fire in a house with a mom and her 5 kids. My husband said it was eerily quiet when they pulled up. There were no smoke detectors going off. All 6 were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation!!
Change your batteries when you change your clocks!
kathie in NY
ours definitely work … the one in the kitchen goes off every time we make pancakes. guess they don't like the hot griddle. =) and we have a fire extinguisher too. thank you for your concern for all of us.
Have one working in each room…will always…thank you for taking care of your bloggy friends.
Linny,
You have helped me to be so much more diligent about checking our smoke detectors and replacing our batteries. When my hubby says that it is ridiculous how much they charge for batteries these days, I remind him that he is not buying batteries, he is buying my piece of mind while he is away! They have been replaced twice a year since then. I even have one in our little playhouse that my kids like to have sleepovers in occasionally and if that wasn't enough, it has its own little extinguisher as well!
Thank you for caring about us all so much that you would challenge us to check these items in our homes and keep them in working order.
Blessings, Lisa C.
Thanks again for the reminder. We have smoke detectors that are wired into the electrical system with battery backup. We also have a CO2 detector because we have natural gas in the house. Our fire extinguisher is in the garage. Not the best place, but it's there if we need it.
Thanks for the reminder. I try to change my batteries with the chage to daylight savings and back again. I have a carbon monoxide detector but I need to get another one closer to the bedroom. It is so easy to put it on the backburner.
Mine definantly work…ask my kids they love teasing me when they go off due to "over done" dinner! Thanks for the post Linny, my brother-in-law is a fire fighter and says that you would be surprised by the # of people who do not have working smoke alarms!
Shanna
We have a two bedroom apartment and we have 4 smoke alarms. I took your advice and went around to each this evening just to be sure that they are working properly (which is no easy task since they are all at nearly the highest points of a vaulted ceiling). ;D
We also have a working fire extinguisher.
Thanks for the reminder and for caring!
We have them in every bedroom and in the "open" part of the house both upstairs and downstairs! As a foster home, we have to check them every six months and our worker checks them once a year.
Yes, but you make me want to buy more, and different brands. That is really frightening.
We have hard wired smoke alarms, and they have battery back up. It is a very important thing.
we installed a number of fire alarms in 2009 when we moved in, and fire extinguishers on each floor. our small 1800 square foot house has like 7 alarms, half of them on battery and half on battery plus electricity.
but ill figure out how to test them this week and make sure theyre all working – how does one test them?
I can say yes to all of your questions. Fire alarms check, carbon monoxide detectors check, we just changed out the batteries a few weeks ago ( my dh is a fanatic about doing this very regularly), fire extinguishers check. We highly rcommend having escape plans worked out as well as a drawing (rough as it may be) of your home kept somewhere safe OUTSIDE of your home so that if anyone is stuck inside, you can show emergency peersonel where that person may be. Kevin (my dh) is trained in disaster relief and volunteers with the Red Cross. He will often times go out and meet with folks who have just had their home burn down. He has seen the devastation first hand, so he doesn't allow us to take chances. Thank you for checking on us!
Blessings
I know for sure I have at least one working alarm, it goes off every time I cook! :0)
Just checked mine a couple of weeks ago for my foster care homestudy (and inadvertantly have checked them since then by burning french fries in the oven.)
Thank you for the reminder!
I just checked now, the smoke alarms are working… realised that it was on a desk, not up on ceiling, will fix that… also, we don't have a fire extinguisher, so I've put that on our shopping list 🙂
I've emailed to my siblings asking them to check their smoke alarms. Also will ask a friend to do so too.
Thanks 🙂
Yes to all the questions! And our smoke detectors also let me know they are working great whenever I am cooking! 🙂
Thanks for the post Linny, I have several smoke alarms in the house but the one in my bedroom is not working. I also do not have a fire extinguisher. I will go to lowes tomorrow and get both. If I can not install it, I will ask the fire department for help.
Bless you. Debbie
The first thing I did when we moved and I realized there was only one(!!) smoke detector in the house was to go buy one for each room (and a carbon monoxide detector). I was thinking of you all as I did.
What software or worksheets have you found helpful in doing your home inventory for the insurance company? We are preparing for yet another military move across an ocean.
You know I used to complain about my take and bake pizza always setting off the smoke alarm. At least I knew it was in working condition.
Linny,
I am terrified of having a fire to the point I've had dreams/nightmares that there has been a fire. But the dream is not here in my house, its in my exhusbands house and its always when he has the kids. I have no reason to worry, he is about as anal as I am about somethings and safety is one of them! I just keep asking God each and every night before I go to sleep to protect us from fire, intruders, protect our health in my home and his. I even pray this for him specifically because he needs to be around for our children.
I have an electric wired smoke alarm, 2 battery alarms (centrally located (both levels of the condo). I check the batteries with the time changes, usually I just change the batteries and not check them.
Thank you for caring.
Lisa
just checked the smoke alarm…..off to get new battery. Yes to fire extinguisher, no to carbon monoxide not needed as boiler in garage. Know how to use extinguishers and have escape routes planned!!!! Thank you for caring for all your bloggy friends too. love and hugs from Becky xx
All our alarms are working Linny! If we needed a fire truck here in Muscat – it may not come for hours. The emergency system here is only about 5 yrs old.
Yes we have smoke and carbon monoxied detectors both are checked on each jan 1 and july 1. I am off to make sure my daughter puts hers up! today! My dad had a fire in his youth and it still effects him and he is 82!
Smoke alarms definitely saved our lives, too. Our fire was 2 years ago in April. The smoke alarms woke the main floor people up but the basement sleepers never heard them. My husband ran downstairs to wake them up with literally seconds to spare. If our alarm didn't wake us, our 2 oldest kids would have been overcome by smoke.
It's a BIG deal!
Blessings,
Laura
Checked everything this morning, and everything is good to go. Much easier to do when the alarms are hard-wired into the house! 🙂 We did discuss how we need a fire plan, though. When we asked our oldest (5) what she'd do if the smoke detectors went off she said, "Go to the basement?" SO, we obviously need to do some educating around here!
OK, replaced battery, check smoke alarm and replaced on ceiling! had fire talk with sontoo. He knows what to do. All safe thankyou. xxx OH and posted my testing smoke alarm on facebook so all my friends get to read about checking fire alarms!!!!
one in every bedroom and in each of the common areas along with 2 carbon monoxide detectors. The girls at my house are covered, but I had to buy my parents a CO unit or they wouldn't have had one
Thankfully our property manager and maintenance person replaces the batteries twice a year. They also will randomly check them. We have a fire extinguisher in the pantry closet and we even have carbon monoxide detectors be all the bedroom doors. When we live other places we would replace the batteries every time change.
Thanks for reminding everyone how important it is!
Thank you once again for the reminder. We have one in our room and outside in the hall way but none downstairs. We don't use it much other then occasionally watching TV..it's mostly storage and laundry. Regardless, I have 3 detectors sitting down there I've been meaning to put up…will do that tonight.
yes to CO2 detector and an extinguisher. It's in the basement tho and I should probably have DH mount it at the top of the stairs.
Linny, thank you so much for making this your mission. We do have a smoke alarm in every bedroom and also in the hallway. We change our batteries twice a year when the time changes. I thought everyone did that, but I was surprised when a friend of mine told me she had never heard of that! So here's a tip for everyone if you don't know it already – change your batteries in the spring and in the fall when the time changes. It's a perfect reminder!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE listen to Linny on this. There have been numerous fires in our province and especially up north where children have perished because there was no smoke alarm or ones with no batteries. It's vital everyone listens!! Hugs and love
Wow. I'm checking them TONIGHT!! I don't have children, but I honestly worry about getting my dog out. Is that silly?!
I knwo the light works on the Fire alarm, but to be completely honest I have never ONCE heard it go off!! I need to take care of this like YESTERDAY!
Thanks for the wake up call, friend!
Yes, we have smoke alarms all over our house. One of them is a combination smoke/carbon monoxide. We have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. We change the batteries in our smoke alarms twice per year — when we change our clocks for daylight savings time. We also try to test them every month. I try to put a reminder on the calendar on my computer to check them on the first of the month. Thanks for posting about this — we need to remember to do these things.
I love your blog and this is the first time that I have commented. I want you to know that YES we have working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide monitors! This is no light matter. My godmother even gave me one when I went away to college for my dorm room. And i'm getting one just for travel for my suitcase. Thank you for the reminder!
We have one smoke alarm in the hall, our house is small. I have a carbon monoxide detector as well. We have a fire extinguisher but I don't know if it works. I need to check into that.
Hi Linny… Great post!! Yes I have a smoke detector here where I live now… it goes off every time I use the oven since our oven fire almost 5 months ago…. landlord don't want to replace the oven…. it still works, and I always keep a close eye on it when I use it. I will be getting my own apartment in 2 weeks and that is the first thing I am going to check before I move anything in… in fact I will be replacing the battery as soon as I get the keys.
Done and done! We have also talked about what we would do, which child we would grab, where we'll meet etc. Hopefully we will never have to put our plan in place, but at least we know what we would do!
We have a 10 year batery in ours and I check it once a month. Just push that button!
What a great reminder. We have multiple smoke alarms and a carbon monoxide alarm, but I haven't checked them in a while.
The picture of Elijah's crib makes me nauseous – and it motivates me to action!
Thanks Linny! This is a great post! We do have working smoke alarms (with new batteries :-)) – you are an inspiration to us all!
I mean, I posted it here!
http://nodaisies.blogspot.com/2011/02/rethink-your-fire-safety.html
Yes we have all of the above mentioned and they all work and know how to be operated! We also moved into a new house recently so we devised a fire escape plan and have a fire drill once a month. It is silly to some people, but I want my kids to be prepared if they ever are in that situation. Thank you for being so passionate about this!!!
I totally agree. My husband's family lost a family home (along with a LOT of expensive items) more than a decade ago. Things have been replaced, and thanks to God no one was hurt. But their life is still split into Before and After the fire.
This makes me want to check all of the alarms today, and make sure all the batteries are working.
Thanks for the reminder! I have checked our smoke alarms and they are working – don't have carbon mo. ones those – will get those this weekend. Thanks Linny! God is using you in your deepest pain. Love your heart!
My dad was a volunteer firefighter for over 30 years, so I take fire seriously. We have 3 smoke alarms in our house, and we change the batteries 2x a year (it goes hand in hand w/ changing the clocks.) We have 2 fire extinguishers (one on each level) in our home, and at one job I used to work at, we were trained in how to use one. REMEMBER:
P-pull the pin
A-aim
S-sweep: move the extinguisher back and forth aimed at the base of the fire w/ a sweeping motion
S-squeeze the trigger
And only use a fire extinguisher on a small fire that has recently started; if it's big, just get out. Never turn your back on the fire. And never let the fire get between you and the door.
Yep…I feel like a dummy…for real…I need to GET ON IT!!! I'm writing a note right NOW! I'm too embarrassed to even tell you what I'm going to "get on it" about, but it's not good…I like to think of myself as bright, too, but wow. So stupid. I think it is definitely something that most people think can't happen to them. Thanks for lighting a "fire" under our hiney's!
Just stumbled upon your blog yesterday and read several posts about your fire. Thanking God for His mercy in sparing you all!
Ironically (and a little funny) we just replaced ALL our smoke alarm batteries in the last week. I think we have nine of them (and three fire extinguishers, and an emergency ladder for the upstairs bedrooms).
Just posted about this very thing, because why-why-why do the batteries always go out at night when I can't figure out which one is chirping?!
But really, a very minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, as you've so graciously reminded me.
(If you want, you can read my rant about it here.
Julie
I have been a bit slack in the past about changing the batteries in our smoke alarm, but I now change them twice a year.
Thank-you for this reminder to be vigilant.
Kate xx
We are all set with the fire alarms, CM detector, and fire extinguishers. I know your passion and love you for the reminders.
Lori L.
Thank you for this post, for your entire blog actually. I am the mother of 4 precious children, all very young (all adopted). We just moved into a new (but actually older) home and after reading your post, I got busy searching out the smoke detectors. I actually installed 2 new ones. Thank you again, your blog, and your way of talking about your faith is so inspiring.