Question:
Just in case you didn't know, now you do. 1. When your smoke detector sounds you have about a two minute window to get out the door. 2. Draw a map of the interior of your residence with 2 escape routes on it. 3. Stay low. Get down, crawl on the floor and go out the door. 4. Have a fire drill now and then. 5. Designate a predesigned meeting place outside the home. 6. If you live on the second floor of some place, have a fire escape ladder ready to use at a moments notice. 7. Are you fire ready at the office. Is the office fire ready. Better to be safe than sorry. And FYI: A smoke detector will only detect smoke. A fire alarm will only dectect fire. A dual detector is more expensive but will dectect both and is a safer way to live. Say, for instance, your house smokes up in back and you only have fire alarms. You are up in the front of the house. Until the smoke turns to fire and moves closer to a fire alarm it will remain silent because it is a fire alarm and the problem is smoke. By then it may be to late. Sorry for rambling on but we lost our RV to a fire the day before thanksgiving in 1998. My parents barely made it out.

Answer: Thank you for the fire safety tips. I think it is a good idea to remind people of these things, especially with the holiday season coming up with all the Christmas lights, etc. Also a good reminder for me that it is time I go over the escape routes with my children again since it has been a while. One other thing I would like to add is that if you have a battery operated smoke detector, it is recommended that you change the batteries in the Spring and Fall when changing your clocks for Daylight Savings Time, whether they need it or not. Using Daylight Savings Time to do this is a great way to remember that it is time to put in fresh batteries.