Home fire drills: What you should know

Think of your children or grandchildren asleep in their beds tonight, if the fire alarm sounded and the hallway was filled with smoke, would they know how to survive?

Recently aired on WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with support from the Bloomington, Minnesota, Fire Department and a child psychologist from Poplar Ridge Elementary School, asked four families from the school to participate in a home fire drill.  Filmed were four 10-year-olds, Chandler, Rainey, Sam, and Mitchell, as they awoke to what seemed like a fire in their homes.  Harmless theater smoke added realism to the frill.

The program depicts a parent's worst nightmare.  The four children were unable to escape.

Chandler ran through the smoke rather than use a second exit.  Rainey awoke, but didn't recognize the sound of the alarm.  Sam, a Boy Scout, confidently described his escape plan to the Bloomington Fire Marshal Bob James, but during the drill, he didn't wake up.  When his mom prodded him to escape, he froze.

Mitchell was the hardest to watch.  His smoke alarm didn't work, so Bob James sounded his own alarm when the apartment filled with smoke.  A minute passed before Mitchell finally woke up.  Instead of snapping into action, he covered his ears and stayed in bed.  Three minutes later, the smoke entered his bedroom and rose to the top bunk where Mitchell remained, immobile.  Nine minutes passed and he still didn't move.  After 12 minutes. His frantic mother told him to get out.  By this time, 14 minutes had elapsed.  In a real fire, Mitchell would have died.

There is a happy ending, however.  Each family then had help planning a home escape, which they practiced.  Several weeks later, WCCO-TV repeated the drill, and all four children performed flawlessly.  Mitchell reacted immediately to the new smoke alarm in his bedroom.  He crawled to the door, shut it tightly, and stuffed clothes around the cracks.  He then turned on the light to let firefighters know he was at his window. 

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The above scenario stresses the idea to create a home escape plan and to conduct surprise fire drills regularly. Here at the office, fire drills are conducted, we know what to do.  At home, is your family ready, do they know what to do in case of a fire?

This year in the Houston area firemen have been called on to extinguish fires in homes and apartment to rescue both children and adults, those are the fortunate ones.  Then there are the unfortunate ones that are not rescued in time.  The most recent was a young child that lost his life from smoke inhalation, he was found hiding in a closet. 

The National Fire Protection Association has released data on catastrophic residential fires in the U.S. for 2001.  Nearly half of those fires did not have smoke detectors, batteries were removed from smoke detectors, or the hard-wiring for the smoke detectors had been disconnected.  The most deadliest residential fire occurred early one January morning in Delaware, when 11 members of one family, ranging in age from 11 months to 83 years, died after a pan of oil left cooking unattended ignited kitchen cabinets.  The single-story house had two smoke alarms, but neither had a battery. 

Listed below are a few recommended steps to protect your family in case of a fire.

• Install a high-quality smoke detector in the garage, kitchen, hallway, living/family room, and each bedroom.
• Install at least two high-quality carbon monoxide detectors in a one-story home and on a two-story home have one on each level.  According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, odorless carbon monoxide gas is the leading cause of death by poisoning in the United States, accounting for more than one in five unintentional deaths by poisoning.
• Change the batteries at least twice a year on your smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector.
• Test your detectors monthly.  You may go one step further by purchasing an aerosol can of smoke detector tester smoke.  It is a can of fake smoke, and used in testing smoke detectors.  The use of lighters, cigarettes, candles, and other smoking devices should not be used.  They give off a residue that could damage the delicate smoke sensors located inside the detector.
• Clean the detector with a vacuum cleaner at least every six months.
• Install a fire extinguisher in a visible and accessible location in the kitchen and garage. 
• If you have a hard-wired smoke/fire alarm system have a fire alarm contractor test your system annually.
• When bedrooms are located above the ground level, have a fire escape ladder for each bedroom.
• Have a quick-release device installed on windows with burglary bars.