Fire!
My sister sent me an e-mail saying that she woke up and smelled smoke. She felt the door to her apartment and it was cool, so she knew the fire wasn’t in her hallway. She sat awake thinking about what she would grab if she had to leave. Luckily, the fire was a block over, but it led to the death of one and the evacuation of 40 others.
We never think that it will happen to us. Survivors of floods, wildfires, and earthquakes are sad, but we rarely take the time to think, “What would I do if that was me?” One of the most common things that happens in a fire is that people get out and realize someone is missing. Maybe their escape route was blocked and they had to go out a different way. This is why having a family meeting spot is so essential. Recently a mother and her adult son escaped a house fire, but they couldn’t find the father. Fearing for his father’s life, the son went back into the fire to get him out. What they didn’t know was that the father had gotten out another way and the son died in the fire, trying to rescue his father.
Talk about where to meet and practice fire drills so that if there is any miscommunication, it is during a drill and not during the real thing. We all need to be prepared and we all need to take steps to ensure our safety and the safety of our loved ones.
