Fire Safety

As my children grow older, I am realizing more and more how much responsibility I have to teach them fire safety. Not only for their own safety, but for the safety of those around them.

When I was in high school, we had a horrible drought. One day some boys were hiking by a river and decided to light some of the shrubbery with a firecracker. With fascination they watched at how quickly it burned until it escalated out of control.

The fire ruined homes, natural habitats and lives. The national guard was called in to guard and patrol that area because more vandal fires were lit shortly after the first fire was put out. I remember watching on the news as the fire neared the governor's home.

My dad was in the national guard at the time and had to stay home from our family vacation, and miss my birthday because he was guarding trees.

I went to a presentation once on fire safety products and learned the alarming statistics of house fires. I can’t remember what they were at the time, but was shocked into realization that I had to be prepared. That day we won a drawing for one of their fire extinguishers and have kept it with us throughout all of our moves. I pray we never have to use it, but we can never be too prepared.

In our home, I am constantly teaching my boys not to play with the stove or matches. It terrifies me when K opens the stove out of curiosity, even when it’s not on, because that is not a good habit to get into, and he certainly gets quite the lecture after he tries it.

How do you teach a 3 year old about fire drills? I know I just need to start talking about it regularly so he understands, such as the “stop, drop and roll” saying.