My first experience with a house fire also happens to be one of my earliest memories. I woke up to a lot of commotion, people communicating very urgently and the world jostling me awake. I was in my dad’s arms as he carried me up the hill our home was built into. The memory is very vague, more like the whisper of a memory, but I remember the front of the house... Eventually, I remember being on the porch of the neighboring home as my siblings watched my family, relatives and the local volunteer fire fighters fight to handle the blaze. Maybe I was too young to understand the gravity of the situation, but I don't remember much emotion - I was probably just thrilled to see a fire truck.
The details from the story were much more dire than I have the ability to remember. My parents were awakened by the sound of a cat clawing at the door. When they opened the door to see what the issue was, the first floor of the home was already in flames. The open concept living/dining/kitchen walls were on fire up to the peak of the ceiling. My parents gathered the children, going down to the basement floor to get most of us, and exited out the back. The fire alarms burned too quickly to successfully alarm my parents, and the cat, which was not so lucky as the rest of us (RIP), was the only warning they had. With the extent of the flames, the fire department told my parents, that they woke up and exited in the last minutes of the window for possible escape.
This leads to our first point. Fire safety seems to be a given, but we still get comments from time to time from people who believe they will wake up to the sound or smell of flames. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Ask any fire department, you will sleep through a fire... eventually succumbing to oxygen deprivation in your sleep. This is why fire alarms are so important. Fires also progress extremely fast in many situations. A small fire, that you may have been able to extinguish, can grow into a lethal blaze in moments. If the fire starts on the other side of your home, wouldn't you like to know as early as possible, to have as much time to be able to respond?
It's a common story. You probably even know someone in your town or even family who has lost it all to a house fire - or worse, has lost someone they loved. Perhaps more uncommonly, my family was blessed to be surrounded by a strong family and community that ended up helping us through the difficult times after the fire. Many others are not so lucky. Build community before you need it.
But enough about me, lets revisit the fatality numbers from our last post:
Poisoning (including overdoses) | 102,001 |
|---|---|
Blood Loss | 60,000 |
Motor-Vehicle Accidents | 46,980 |
Falls | 44,686 |
Choking | 5,325 |
Drowning | 4,337 |
Fire, Flames, Smoke | 3,389 |
* stats taken from injuryfacts.nsc.org (2021) and NE Journal of Medicine (for blood loss - 2019).
Here we see how deaths from fires compares to other common accidental deaths. And, in relation to the others, it seems to be pretty low, but we have to keep in mind that this is likely because of modern fire code standards, fire safety education, and the like - without which, we can assume the death toll would be much, much higher from the nearly 360,000 home fires that occur annually. So, we can't too comfortable and forget why we have these standards and norms.
For example, do you know what the leading cause of *fatal* home fires is? Smoking. So, we see that this issue can still come down to carelessness and poor planning. Smoke outside, folks.
Now for those of us who don't smoke (tobacco or the devil's lettuce), what is the leading cause of fire injuries? Kitchen fires. I am sure someone has broken down the reasons as to why this is the case, but let's just suffice it to say, you should have a cooking specific fire extinguisher in your kitchen. Because, I don't know about you, but in my opinion, burns are just about the worst type of injury and I would like to be prepared for that (I also keep burn bandages in my IFAK mentioned in Step 5).
So, if other causes outnumber the deaths from fire (murder, choking, drowning) why does this step outweigh them on the list? Well, for a few reasons: Murderers usually have motive or a target. You can mitigate your chance of being a victim by making some situational choices. Fires have no preference; they can victimize anyone at any time. Choking, is a concern mostly for the young or the elderly. So, if you live in close proximity to these groups, then maybe that concern is greater for you. And drowning, usually mostly relevant to those who have close proximity to deeper, swimmable water, while fires are relevant to everyone who lives in a building. These are my justifications for my ranking on the list; but remember, this is a guide not dogma. So, do whatever you deem the highest priority in your situation.
Now, lets talk about some other items that you can utilize for fire safety. One is a collapsible fire escape ladder. Most homes do not have two ways to get up and downstairs, so in the event of a fire, what if your stairs are engulfed and you are on the second floor? While a well placed jump from the second story is generally going to be survivable, I would really prefer not to take that chance with my kids. So, these ladders are cheap, easy to use and readily available as a great form of insurance against residential fires.
Second, its worth mentioning that you should have fire-proof storage for all your vital documents and items. It is also worth storing these fire-proof units along an outside wall, where, if necessary the fire department could breech the wall and retain the safe (this happened in our home fire). Because fire-proof only stays that way for a certain amount of time. These products aren't invincible and with enough heat or enough time, they will burn.
Last, lets touch on automotive fires. If you've been driving for any amount of time, there is a good possibility that you have seen a vehicle pouring smoke out at one point. In fact, this happened to me in high school. A friend and I were doing some yard work out front of my house and a SUV pulled over to the side of the road right in front of us. When they opened the door, smoke poured out. We assisted the two adults and a baby in a carrier out of the vehicle, and tried to find where the smoke was coming from. We opened the rear hatch and my buddy noticed the smoke was coming from the rear quarter interior panel, and when he popped it open, flames sprang out. I ran to the house to get an extinguisher (which I did not know the location of), my mom was asking what we did (excuse me), and I finally got back out front with two extinguishers. Fortunately, my friend was well versed with fire extinguishers, because I didnt know how to use mine.
Its a funny story, but it goes to show a few principles: One, automotive extinguishers are handy. They are designed to work better with the types of materials that can burn in an auto fire. Two, Proximity to fire. Auto extinguishers are usually.... in the automobile and therefore immediately accessible. Even if the outside fire wasn't an auto fire, in most cases, it would be quicker to run to my vehicle, pull it out from under the seat and get back, rather than running inside to get to wherever the extinguisher is stored away. Third, know your equipment and how to use it. In these types of situations, time is going by pretty quickly. So you can sit there and read the instructions, or you can do that prior as another little prep.
As we wrap up, lets do our best to regularly give our thanks and support to all the volunteers and paid firefighters and EMS members who work insane hours, experience all sorts of trauma, and sacrifice so much money, emotion, and time protecting us from emergency situations. Absolute legends.
That's all we have for this step. Thank you so much for reading... and I hope this helped to motivate or equip you to prepare in some way. Please let me know in the youtube comments what you think of the video and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. Follow on Instagram and be interactive! You guys are my favorite part about this project.