Why Our Fire Escape Plan Was Never Going To Work

Let’s take a look back at how our kids have woke us up over the years.

First, there is the silent, eerie silhouette of my daughter staring at me by my bedside which makes me react in a completely opposite way.  Without making a sound, she causes me to launch out of my deep sleep and scream way too loud to warrant what is actually happening.

Then there is the middle of the of the night, natural disaster.  I’m not talking about an earthquake or tornado, but something that goes way beyond the Bounty quicker picker-upper.

And let’s not forget the random sleepwalking incidents.  One night, I had someone turn on our bedroom lights, yank all of my covers off and then started jumping on my bed, yelling “THERE ARE SPIDERS EVERYWHERE!!”  Oh wait, that was my wife. 

And believe me, I was dancing around in my underwear, trying to get rid of these imaginary spiders.

When my kids were babies, I remember Lindsey and me learning how to crab walk backward out of their bedrooms without setting off any noises from the toys scattered across the floor.  That was because the slightest noise or creak would make my kids wake up immediately and hold us captive for the next hour.  But now that our kids are a little older, a good night’s sleep is much more common.  They are getting to the point to where they sleep hard.  It’s even to the point where it’s a little scary.

I am lazy-brained when it comes to safety.  But my wife is a bonified expert.  Her maternal instincts are always active.  So when it comes to fire safety, it’s no different.  She reminds me that when daylight savings time comes around, we need to change the batteries in our smoke detector and go over our fire escape plan.  Here is a great plan from nfpa.org you can use.  

We decided to test our kids to see if they would wake up when our smoke alarm went off.  It wasn’t good.  I was setting off the alarm in their room, and it was extremely loud and it took one of my kids almost two minutes to wake up.  And she was totally unaware of what was going on, much less to have the presence of mind to execute the steps for a fire escape plan.  Experts say that a fire can engulf a whole house within 5 minutes.  We’re not talking about a room, but the whole house.  So even with a good plan in place, what if no one wakes up?  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgFuMGf0p7M

That’s when I realized that our fire escape plan was never going to work.

This was mainly because our plan was incomplete.

So there is a crucial question that needs to be answered for any fire escape plan.  What can be put in place to wake you up?  The quicker you are awake, the quicker you will become more aware of the situation.  I did some research online and found that there are some great products to help with this problem.  I found that this smoke detector from Kidde that uses a voice and beeping to wake you up.  I bought it, installed it and tested it.  This was the very next night and they had been asleep much longer.  Our kids actually woke up and started to go through our fire escape plan.  So this was an improvement for sure.  It also doubles as a carbon monoxide detector and has a different voice alert for when it is detected.  But just recently I found this product by Kidde as well.  And I believe it is going to make a huge difference in our fire escape plan.  You connect it to your wifi, plug it into your wall and it can alert multiple smartphones and any contacts you designate all at once.  You only need one to cover your entire house and it works with all UL listed smoke and CO alarms manufactured after 1999.  So it works with my existing detectors.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0iRJkRbwMU

It’s amazing how we can here a text message in the middle of the night, but not a smoke alarm.  So if a device like this gives me a better chance of waking up, then it’s a no-brainer.   So what are the takeaways here?

1. When daylight savings time rolls around, change your batteries or better yet consider upgrading to something more effective than the standard smoke detectors we’ve had for decades.
2. Whatever devices you decide to use, actually test it at night to see if anyone in your family will wake up.  Have them test it on you as well.
3. Go through your fire escape plan during the day when everyone is awake.  Then do it that same night or shortly after that when they have fallen asleep to see if they remembered it.  You can do this more than twice a year.

Having a plan in place on what to do in the event of a fire is extremely important.  But none of it matters if no one wakes up to execute it.  So make sure you have a plan for that as well.

Do you have a fire escape plan?