It's preparedness month... day 9!

It's preparedness month! And we’re celebrating with 30 days full of tips on our favorite topic… preparedness!! If you’ve missed out on any of them, click here to take a trip through the month of September and catch up!!

Photo courtesy of Dennis Glines
and the Uintah County Fair

Preparedness Tip #9
Practice. Conduct fire drills and practice evacuating your home twice a year. Drive your planned evacuation route and plot alternate routes on a map in case main roads are blocked or gridlocked. Practice earthquake and tornado drills at home, school and work. Commit a weekend to update telephone numbers, emergency supplies and review your plan with everyone.

Not only will this help you and your family develop a plan... but practicing will also help you when in an emergency!! Panic is often times associated with an emergency, and that can make people do silly things that we wouldn't generally do.  For example, when children here smoke detectors they may hide under their beds, or people may be to scared to go out in the hallway when they smell smoke and huddle in a corner.  Because of this, we staunchly advocate Practice Practice Practice!!

• Test your smoke detectors so your household knows what they sound like
• Test your carbon monoxide detectors so your household know what they sound like
• Have a fire drill once or twice a year 
• Block off certain areas of the house and pretend they are on fire so the household has to practice the 2 ways out of each room rule 
• Make sure that once everyone gets out of the house you all meet at your family meeting place
• Discuss how you each got out and any concerns that developed
• Schedule a visit to a fire station so that your children can see what firemen do, and what they look like in all of their gear
• During fires, children are often scared of what the firemen look like and will run and hide thinking that they are a monster or alien

For more tips on keeping you and your family safe, visit us online!