This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ChangeYourClock#CollectiveBias
We live in a great neighborhood. I like to call it one of the best neighborhoods in Colorado Springs. Our neighbors are amazing and are always willing to help out each other. We are each other’s neighborhood watch since we watch each other’s house when the other isn’t around. With the bad press the police department have been getting, I have to say that ours is amazing. Our fire department even more so. With this being fire safety month they encourage visits to the fires station, so with Fall here and the time change coming in just a few weeks I decided to take Madison to visit some of our finest fire fighters. We all know the saying “fall back and spring forward” meaning to change your clock in the fall and in the spring. We decided to pay them a visit and get some safety tips and also see what it’s like to be a fire fighter. While you can just show up and they’re always willing to show you around, I decided to call and find out when would be the best time to come. I was told any time after 8am as they would be changing shifts around then.
As can be expected Madison was super excited to go out. She loves our men in uniform, whether they be our fire fighters or our police officers. Something maybe about hearing the sirens or seeing the lights but I think she loves their vehicles a lot more than she loves them. We met up with the team at our Fire Station 3 and they were just as excited to see her as she was to see them. Turned out that they are there almost all day unless they get a call so it can get a bit boring there and this day she became an honorary fire fighter.
We got a few safety tips and even a few that we had no idea about that I want to share with you.
1. Teach your children to dial 911 including your toddlers and pre-schoolers. Yes even at that age in the event of an emergency. You want them to be able to make that phone call in the event of anything life threatening.
2. Always have an exit plan in the event of a fire. Discuss this plan with everyone in the home so that in the event of a fire everyone will be on the same page. Keep doors and windows clear of obstacles so that you will be able to get out easily.
3. Have a safe place. Once you are outside have a safe place to meet up and account for everyone. Our safe place in the event of a fire is at my neighbors house across the street and everyone knows this.Your fire fighters will meet you there and make sure everyone is safe and ok.
4. Don’t ever go back in the house once you get outside. That’s what our firefighters are there for. No pet, stuffed animal, cash, important document is worth your life. Your firefighter will get that for you. It’s why they wear these special protective gear. We found out that their gear can withstand up to 800 degrees of heat. So don’t ever go back! Once you’re outside call the fire department.
5. Once a month do a fire safety drill. Practice, practice, practice. They say practice makes perfect so that everyone knows what to do and what to expect. Teach your kids how to crawl on the ground because there is less smoke the lower to the ground you go. We found out that more people die from smoke inhalation than they do from the actual fire. Also teach them the stop, drop and roll method.
6. Hang your smoke detectors as high as you can preferably on the roof and your carbon monoxide monitor as low as you can. Now the reasoning for this as our firefighter explained to us is that smoke rises to the top while carbon monoxide tends to go low to the ground. I always hung mine at the same level so had to change that.
7. Change your batteries every 6 months in your fire detector and carbon monoxide monitor. A rule of thumb is to change it when you change your clock. So when the clock goes backwards in the fall change them, and change them again in the spring when it goes forward.
When it comes to batteries I trust no other than Energizer® MAX®. You can find them in your local Walmart in the battery center and I made sure to grab a pack so that I could change mine when the time comes. According to the National Fire Protection Association, 71% of non-functioning smoke alarms had missing, disconnected or dead batteries. The goal of the Change Your Clock Change Your Battery is to remind everyone to replace the batteries in their home’s smoke detectors so when you change your clocks for daylight savings so you will have functioning smoke alarms.
Today we invite you to adopt a simple life-saving habit: When you change the time on your clocks on Nov. 1, change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Energizer® has partnered with the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) for 28 years on the Change Your Clock Change Your Battery program, and they have an incredibly important goal: to change behavior and save lives.
Let’s discuss: Do you have a safety plan in place for your family and do you practice them?
