Be Prepared: Home Escape Plans Save Lives!

[@cjbacalfee1]

We are so grateful for the Fire and Rescue of Oak Ridge TN. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your efforts to save our family and their home. They have replaced their home, and thankfully they are all alive to enjoy the new home, much due to your quick response. Again, thank you! Sue and Rick Calfee (Heather's Mom and Dad... Grammie and Grandaddy to our grandsons)

[@charlottechapman3197]

I live in the UK. And for the first 5 years of my daughters life we lived in a 1 bed flat 6 floors up {7 if you count the ground floor which was also residential.} my daughter was 18 months at the time someone had ignited a newspaper in our letterbox (in UK we have letterboxes in our doors) I was alerted by our smoke alarm and despite it being a supposed fire door, by the time the smoke detector went off the fire was fairly established on the door. I grabbed my tot and went into the living room shitting the door and pulling a throw off the sofa to block the door gaps. I called the fire brigade, informing of which window we were at. (in the UK residential flats do not have an external fire escape, so as our front door was alight, we were trapped. Thankfully, the brigade were with us in minutes at the window, those windows open out wide enough after the safety catch is released to climb out. We were both unharmed (except for minor exasperation of my asthma) my front door and hallway were totalled, but within 2 weeks the local council had repaired damage and repainted and we were rehomed back in the same flat. We didn't have much choice as social housing is awful in UK. We are very thankful for our FD for rescuing us and thankful that I had learnt at a school event some 20 years previously about keeping smoke away and preventing the spread of fire. So I can thank THAT FD too for teaching me skills as a kid that saved our lives. Firefighters are the worlds guardian angels xx

[@zuzuspetals9281]

Nice job Alex. Kids bugging their parents is the best way to get the job done. Keep teaching kids about home fire escape.

[@OakRidgeFD]

Mr. and Mrs. Calfee, You're very welcome. No thanks are needed, but they are greatly appreciated. We were simply doing our job. We're glad it worked out well!