It was about 1:30AM and the smoke detectors were going off somewhere in the house.  My first and immediate thought was where is it and is it to big to contain.  I slid on my shoes quickly and ran out of my bedroom to check the kitchen, laundry and fireplaces.  Someone had cleaned the fireplace out and left a bucket of several day old ashes in a bucket in the basement and had dumped the dust swept from the floor on top.  The smoke was just starting but any moment would have erupted into flames causing untold damage and injury.  This is my story and I am glad I had a detection system working.

Most of us have fire detection systems in our homes.  If you don’t you should.  When my oldest son started school he came home after visiting the fire station and talked about fire drills.  We are in need of refreshing this and reminding the other children about how to be prepared.  My wife and I purchased a small handheld fire safe and we keep a few important things tucked away in there.  We have our passports, Social Security cards, a family picture to identify us as a family, a major credit card, a little cash and a few odds and ends.  We have a couple of duffle bags that we use for overnight bags that we normally have a pair of shoes and a change of clothes in ready to hand.  It would be easy to quickly grab and go or use the safe to break the window and escape.

If an active fire were out of control in or out of your house would you be ready to evacuate?  Would your kids know how to get to the family meeting area or would you have bags ready and documents and cash easily at hand?

Here is an article from a family who experienced this from the Alberta fires it is worth the time to read and act on: http://thescientificparent.org/we-are-not-fine-we-are-not-prepared-escaping-fort-mcmurray/