Am I doing everything possible to protect my home from a fire?

Protecting your family and your home in the event of a fire

I am a first grade teacher and every few months we have a fire drill in my classroom. We practice and practice until those terrified 6 year olds turn into confident 7 year olds before the end of the school year.

At home, I am the mother of three young children and I am embarrassed to admit that I have never once practiced what we woulddo in case of a fire. Do I even know what to do in case of a fire?!

For most of my life I believed that having a smoke detector on our ceiling and fire extinguisher under our kitchen sink had me completely covered in case of an emergency. To be honest, the only reason I check the smoke detector regularly is because of the annoying alarm that reminds me to. However, there is no alarm on the fire extinguisher and I have failed to check on it regularly.

Did you know that you are supposed to check the extinguisher every month? Did you also know that in order to keep it functioning optimally it needs to be checked once a year by a professional? Can you imagine spending precious minutes grabbing your fire extinguisher in case of an emergency only to find out that it does not work because it wasn’t maintained properly?

We put together this simple infographic for you to hang inside your cabinet where you keep your extinguisher.

Take a minute to review the information ( print it and keep it in a place that will remind you to check your extinguisher often).

Also, plan a few minutes this week to discuss your family’s safety plan in case of a fire emergency and make sure everyone knows where the extinguishers are and how and when to use them. You will never regret being prepared and confident with a plan but hopefully you will never have to use it.