Welcome to April! The month of April Fool's Day, Passover, Easter, Holocaust Remembrance, Earth Day, and Arbor Day.
This month our goal is going to be getting our homes up to speed with safety measures.
If you are new to this challenge, please go here or go to LABELS --> and click on challenges.
If you are returning, yay!, let's do this!
Week one:
*Check each and every fire alarm you have in your home.
Check to make sure they work, and give them new batteries.
(Good rule of thumb is to do this every six months. If you do this now along with me, you should also be prepared to do this again in June [with new batteries], and then December. Remembering to change the batteries every six months is easier to remember this way.)
*If you have additional detectors in your home, repeat this process with each of them.
*Make sure you have a working and up-to-date fire extinguisher.
-Make certain that everyone who is old enough to use it knows where it is located, and make that location easily accessible.
-Ideally, you should have at least one on each floor.
*Decide on a family meeting place in the event of a fire.
That tree in the front yard (which ought to be far enough away from the house), the neighbors front porch, wherever.
Make sure that everyone knows right where to go.
*Review Stop! Drop! and Roll! with your family.
Do not underestimate a young child's comprehension, same with the elderly.
*Speaking of children/elderly, take time this week to have a conversation about what to do, and what NOT TO DO, in a fire.
-Do get out as soon as possible
-Do try to communicate with other family members (THERE'S A FIRE!*BROTHER, WAKE-UP!*I AM SAFE AND AT THE FRONT DOOR!)
-Do remember to stay as low to the ground as possible.
-Do remember to check door handles before opening any doors. (If the handle is hot, DO NOT open.)
-Do go to a window if you are trapped and scream for help. (Even break the window if you need to.)
-Do NOT grab objects and try to save them- even your cell phone (which was the number two item most people try to save in a fire, second only to people)
-Do NOT hide from firefighters
-Do NOT go back into a burning building
-Do NOT try to rescue a pet (sorry pet lovers, it's the truth)
*You might also want to consider getting stickers from your local fire department to place in the windows of children's rooms. This alerts firefighters of where a child's room is and helps to find the children easier.
You can get an additional sticker for your front window on which you can list the number of pets you have, should they be able to be rescued as well.
*Consider taking your children to a fire station to meet and get comfortable with the firefighters.
Feeling safer yet? I hope so!-
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