While growing up, my family experienced two house fires. One was a chimney fire and one was the result of leaving a pan of baby bottles on the stove, forgetting it boiling, and going to bed. The water boiled off and the plastic and rubber caught fire. Thankfully, both times we all escaped without a scratch, although the house took serious damage both times.
As you can imagine, I take fire very seriously, and have been very careful to make sure we have enough smoke/fire detectors in the house, and that they are regularly tested and batteries are replaced. We have a fire extinguisher near the kitchen, and we have a fire evacuation plan that everyone in the house, including the kids, could do in their sleep.
The kids know they have two exits from their rooms: their door and their window. But the other day, I was washing windows and screens and one of the windows was frozen shut! On top of that, I realized that screens are often quite difficult to remove--especially for kids.
So this made me worry that if there was a fire during the night, the kids wouldn't be able to open their windows or if they did, they wouldn't be able to push out their screens to escape. So I decided:
- Since it is winter and we don't leave the windows open, the screens aren't necessary. I took them out and won't put them back in until we start opening them in warmer weather.
- When we do put the screens back in, I'm going to make sure the kids can demonstrate that they know how to remove the screens, and that we practice from time to time to make sure they don't forget.
- Weekly I'm going to make sure we can open all the windows--that they're not frozen shut. Windows aren't meant to freeze shut. If they do, it typically means you have a leak or the window should be replaced. Sometimes, windows are accidentally painted shut, although that's not the case for us.
I thought I'd blog about it so you can make sure your kids can escape from their windows.
For more family friendly tips and recommendations on a fire safety and evacuation plan, check out the resources below. And don't forget that experts now also recommend that you have a carbon monoxide detector on every level of your home, near where you sleep, and that you replace the batteries as needed.
Preparing for Emergencies
Sparky.org
USFA Escape Planning