For all you parents out there—I’m picking on you for right now because I really care about kids—what would you do if you found out that your child’s school has not inspected or test its alarm system in the last three years?  Or that none of the fire extinguishers would work if needed?  Or that you child had never participated in a fire drill?  Would you feel safety sending your child to such a school?  So, when is the last time you checked the smoke detectors and fire extinguisher in your home—you do have smoke detectors and at least one fire extinguisher in your home, right?  Or practiced your home fire escape plan with your children—you do have a plan, right?

We’re going to start today with that smoke detector.  Smoke detectors save lives—when they have a good battery and are properly located in the home AND are tested on a regular basis.  Sounds simple, but in my experience I’ve found too many instances where fires happened and the smoke detector didn’t have a battery or the detector had been removed or there had never been one installed.

Our policy in the Chesterfield Fire & EMS department was that we offered to check the smoke detectors in any home we responded to for an emergency.  After the emergency had been stabilized, e.g., our ambulance was on the way to the hospital with the patient who was experiencing chest pains, a member of the engine company or truck company—the fire truck and firefighters who arrived before the ambulance to begin giving aid—would check the detectors in the home.  If we found one that did not work, or there were none in the house, we installed one from the supply carried on the truck.  No charge, no questions asked.  The important thing was that the home had a working smoke detector when we left.

So how’s the smoke detector in your home working?