Question:
Recently I was watching the news and saw that an infant child was killed and two other children badly burned due to a house fire because the mother wasn't able to get all of the children out in time. This made me think about the fire safety in my own house. I have a 4 month old and a 3 year old. There is a medal fire ladder in their bedroom, but I started thinking that if there was a fire I more than likely couldn't carry both of them down the ladder safely. I was wondering if there were any inflatable fire ladders or slides anywhere that I could use for home use. I know that airplanes have slides much like I'm thinking of, but I don't know if there are any available for what I want it for?

Answer: i would think you could teach the 3 year old to climb down the ladder. Boo has been climbing up & down ladders since he was 18 months. the problem with learning ladder climbing is keeping them off any ladders used for stocking in stores ;) i don't think they make inflatable slides for home fire safety use, because they'd need to be tested at least annually & they really don't inflate that quickly. if you have a fire where you're trapped in the bedroom, you probably wouldn't want to wait for a slide. the ladder is there. it's faster. i had a chimney fire a couple weeks ago. took me all of 5 minutes to call 911 & get everyone including dog & cats out of the house, & the only reason it took that long was i crated the cats. i don't recommend chimney fires at -12 without windchill :) the poor firemen were warming thier hands on my fireplace (the fire was out when they arrived. it was small because i clean my chimney, but there's this right angle bend that had some creosote buildup...). OTOH, it is one way to meet the fire dept. & discuss what pets are in the house & where the kids sleep in case there's a real (or bad) fire. if you live in a small town you might want to give the fire chief a call & talk with him about that anyway. they like to know where flammables/toxics are kept, electrical shut offs, where the bedrooms are (especially kids. i think they can give you tot finder stickers for the windows), if there are pets, how many & what kind (because they *do* try to save the animals once they get the people out). in my case, the chief took special note of the tortoises.