Fire Safety and Sleep
Any time I post about closed doors being a non-negotiable for sleep in our house, I get tons of questions about why and how to implement that for toddlers who aren’t thrilled with that idea.
As a fire family, we are well versed in fire procedures and my firefighter husband regularly grills me on what to do in emergency situations (especially those that have to do with a fire in our home) so we are prepared for those should they happen- God forbid- but not everyone is!
Brea took the time to give a very detailed talk in my stories which is all saved to a highlight, but I wanted to house the information here just in case social media goes up in flames one day (pun intended).
(and if you’re wondering, my husband has been a paramedic since 2009 and a firefighter since 2012, so lots of experience).
For fire safety, we will cover:
Why it’s important to sleep with doors closed
Fire drills
Fire extinguishers
Smoke detectors
What about things like wax warmers or candles and other safety tips
So what if your kid prefers their door open?
Why you should sleep with doors closed (fire safety)
The first thing we will cover is why an interior door (like a bedroom door) being closed is so important from a fire safety aspect. It blocks the flow of heat. Interior solid core doors are rated for 90 mins of fire beating down on them– which is HUGE when you need to get away from a fire and wait for safety.
Most other hollow core doors (these are thinner) isolates from fire during 20 minutes and holds its integrity during 30 minutes (it would not open or break before the stated 30 minutes of fire-exposure).
For exterior doors, that can be 60+ minutes with fire beating down on it.
This stops the fire from moving toward the room because the fire will take the path of least resistance and follows the flow of air/heat. Opening the door allows air flow which will fuel the fire. Keeping the door closed also helps to limit smoke exposure (since it rises).
If a fire started in a room with a closed door, it would spare more of the house.
Fire drills
How do you execute a fire drill?
This is SO important to do with your family, especially with young kids.
The main things to cover:
Establish a meeting a place outside of the house (a tree, a mailbox, etc)
Establish 2 exits out of any room (main door, window)
Execute the drill where everyone will be sleeping so that you can hear the alarm from the beds with white noise on top (simulate the most realistic sleeping environment)
Before you exit a room, teach them to check the door with the back of your hand to see if its hot or cold (STOP THERE, don’t open it!). If it’s cool, then check the door knob. If the door knob is warm, STOP. If it’s cool, peek out. If you can visibly see, you can exit to the meeting place (your kids room if you need to get anyone, etc).
If visibility is low but still visible, get low and crawl because heat and smoke will rise (no need to cover yourself with anything– if you need a barrier, just don’t leave the room because you can become incapacitated and get stuck where you’re at). Use the second exit instead (the window)
Draw up a map with your kids (and for yourself)
If you’re in a one story home, maturity really matters when teaching a child how to leave their room and get to the meeting place. Teach them to stay put in the fire drill if they can’t manage checking the door or opening a window, they need to stay behind the closed door in their room.
You don’t want them to leave their room and hide somewhere you can’t find them. That costs you so much time. You need to know that you can get to them and know exactly where they’ll be.
If you do teach them to get out of their door, if they panic and leave the door open but go back into their room, you’ve lost that time you could’ve saved with the door closed.
Teach them that once they’re out of the house, they stay out. Don’t go back in!
In a two story home, stairs are your first choice to exit if possible. If they’re unavailable, then purchase a deployable ladder to have a safe exit from the upstairs.
If there was a fire that prevented you from leaving your bedroom because theres fire in between you and the other bedrooms, you’d go down the ladder and get a different ladder to go back up to the rooms and rescue the rest of the kids.
When you do go to each room to get a child, make sure you close doors behind you! If you’re taking individual kids down the ladder, take the youngest one first and have the bigger kids wait by the open window.
MORAL OF THE STORY: ALWAYS CLOSE THE DOOR (AND CLOSE IT BEHIND YOU).
Before we had a ladder, Brea grilled me on what I’d do if we couldn’t get downstairs. My solution was to get to our upstairs front bedroom and climb out the window there to wait on the roof until the fire department could rescue us.
What about fire extinguishers?
Keep a fire extinguisher accessible everywhere. In your kitchen, laundry room, garage, etc. You want to be able to get to one quickly.
You can teach your kids PASS (or yourself) for using a fire extinguisher, pull the pin, aim at the fire, squeeze the handle, and sweep it at the base of the fire.
You can purchase these on amazon, walmart, home depot, etc.
Let’s talk about smoke detectors
Where should smoke detectors be? They should be on each floor of the house, one in each sleeping area, and one outside of each sleeping area. Make sure they’re at the highest part of the house.
Change the batteries when the time changes (twice a year), but if you don’t observe the time change, just set a reminder to do it!
What about things like wax warmers or candles and other safety tips
Wax warmers are supposed to be low voltage and “safe”, but never leave them on when you’re not home. We turn everything off when we aren’t home. No crock pots, no dryer, etc. Unplug everything whenever it isn’t in use.
Dryers are a huge source of home fires as well as oven vent hoods. Keep them clean! Keep furniture far enough away from fireplaces, etc.
Reminders:
Practice fire drills
Let them hear what a smoke detector sounds like
Visit your local FD so that kids can see them in their gear and they won’t be afraid when the come to rescue them (it can be intimidating)
Grab extra fire extinguishers for your car as well
Test your smoke detectors with the “test” button
So what if your kid prefers their door open?
If they’re old enough to prefer their door being open, you can explain the safety reasoning behind it. You can discuss ways to help them feel safe in their room with the door closed. Give them the tools they need to be okay without the door being opened, like a stuffed animal they can cuddle if they feel scared or a family photo where they feel they’re being protected.
Validate their emotions while redirecting them- “I know you prefer the door open, but it isn’t safe and it’s our job to keep you safe. The door will be closed while you sleep. Do you want to sleep with this stuffed animal or that one?”
And let them know you’ll always be there watching over them! You really don’t want a kid to have freedom in an emergency situation- they panic and hide which is the last thing you want. Ensuring they’re safe in the room means you can get to them quickly.
