What is a four letter word that someone screams when they smell smoke in their house and the smoke alarm is going off?
F........I........R.........E..........yes, fire!
I went to sleep last night wondering how my day was going to go today. Planning out my schedule of things. I woke up to a smoke alarm. This morning as my 6 am alarm is going off. I start to wake up. Waiting to snooze 5 more minutes. When all of a sudden the most horrible, loudest sound goes off in my two story house. The smoke alarm is the one thing that will get you off the bed and awake in less than a second. I grabbed my robe, and all hell broke loose. I have gone through safety fire classes at school and at home. I am one of the safety coordinators at work. But the first thing we tell everyone not to do, I did. I panicked. My house was on fire and I lost it. I didn't grab a towel and wet it to put over my mouth. I didn't check the door or door knob. I didn't even check to see if the smoke was coming in through the door. I just opened the door to the unknown. I screamed for my son. He jumped up off his bed and ran to me. Poor him, he didn't even know what was going on. I checked all the upstairs bedrooms. My fiance had already left to work but for some reason I had to check the upstairs room and open all the doors. We ran downstairs. We could not see anything. Smoke filled the entire first floor. My eyes burned, my chest was closing on me. We ran to the front door, and I totally forgot about the house alarm. I saw the light in the turtle aquarium had fell in the fire was coming from there. I reached in and grabbed the lamp. Ok, now let me stop there to tell you, now I think. Because you are never to reach into a fire. Never touch anything that is on fire. And yes I didn't even grab something to protect my hands. I grabbed the lamp open the front door and dropped it on the concrete. I set the house alarm off. I ran and turned it off. I again made another big mistake. I grabbed a big glass pan from the kitchen and a metal spoon and try to take the stuff that was on fire out. But i started to drop the embers. So i stopped and went to put that in the sink with running water. Yes, i did not grab a bucket of water to throw at it, no, i did not grab the two fire extinguishers we have in the house, and no i did not stop making errors there. Again, panic can really mess up things. I grabbed the aquarium and thought to take it to the water hose but guess what? I ran threw my house with the big aquarium that was on fire with my bare hands and out the back door. When i picked up the aquarium I also noticed the table was on fire as well. So I ran back to the house to get the table out, threw the house again, and out the back door. Let me back up to tell you the fire was at the foyer, next to the front door. Panic, yes, panic. My son opened all the windows upstairs, and downstairs. I hosed down the aquarium and table.
I heard someone say today, live every moment as if it were your last. I couldn't even comtenplate my house gone. I moved in this house almost 3 years ago. I watched be built. I picked the brick, appliances, everything. I see how people who have fires in their homes can feel after it is all said and done. I was lucky that it happened and we were home. Normally i turn the lamp on when i leave for work. Today my fiance turned it on at 5 when he left. We are not exactly sure what time the lamp fell but we know that at 6:01 the fire alarm went off. We have a home filled with the nasty smoke smell but we are safe, my house is still standing, and I am so thankful GOD was watching over us today.
Learn from my mistakes today. Don't PANIC. Talk to your kids and family about fire safety. Not just when things happen but remind them often. Have fire extinguishers available. Remember not to take shortcuts. Remove or replace any faulty wiring or outlets. Don't duck take, rig things, or try to make things work. Spend a little money to save alot later. When you smell something, go with your instinct. I didn't. I waited for the smoke alarm to go off, even though I smell wood burning. If a fire is too big to handle get out, and call 911. Remember how to handle fires. Check your fire alrms. Make sure they are all working. Today our saved us. Make an escape plan. Practice fire safety.
If you need more information go to http://www.firesafety.gov/
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