s/o This Is Us -- Fire escape drills from heights

[Cecropia]

Do you hold fire drills in your house?  If you don't live in a one-story building/first floor dwelling, does your family practice getting down from two- or three-story windows?

 

We live in a two-story house set on a hill (basement walkout) that has all the bedrooms upstairs.  We could easily be sleeping as a fire starts downstairs, getting trapped up there like This Is Us.

 

The master bedroom window opens to the roof, which reaches around to the back porch landing, a 7-8 foot drop, and then access to the porch stairs.  Our baby and 4yo sleep in there with us.  We have a "safety rope" in the master closet to tie to bedroom furniture and snake out the window for the first adult to get down (not a great plan). We could sling the baby, but we should buy one of those large breathable baby rescue sacks.

 

The bedroom halfway down the hall is a guest room/storage room.  There's a two-story drop with no roof platform.  No contingency plan to escape through that window.

 

Oldest boy has a bedroom at the end of the hall with a three-story drop to the backyard.  No contingency plan for his window, either.  However, he only has to open his door and turn right into his brother's room...

 

Second boy has the other bedroom at the end of the hall with a two-story window (also drops straight down).  When we moved here, we bought a fold-up metal fire escape ladder which sits in his closet.

 

I've talked many times about having a drill with the ladder in our second son's bedroom and another drill out the master bedroom window.  If we were separated by a fire in the hall, ds13 would hopefully be capable of getting the ladder set up and helping ds10 get on it.  Every time I bring it up, though... I encounter so much resistance.  I get that everyone in my family except me is afraid of heights.  House fires are uncomfortable to think about and we'd all rather ignore the possibility.  Escaping would look silly to the neighbors (plus we'd have to tell them all so they don't call 911 for us!).  We might damage the house in using the ladder.  There's a significant risk of accidents.

 

At what age do you think a child would be old enough to participate in such a drill?  What about practicing at night as well as daytime?  As I'm typing this I realize we need a good flashlight in every bedroom, somewhere it won't get lost.

[Carrie12345]

We're in a 1.5 story, with just the master suite upstairs.  We've neglected to seriously address the issue, which is insane, because there are 3 firefighters living here!  :huh:   Our focus has always been on drills with the kids, who are almost always on the 1st floor.  But we do know how to tie great knots and there is rescue rope laying around here somewhere... I should put it in an official place!

 

We do have flashlights stashed just about everywhere. The younger boys were always obsessed with them, so we fell into the habit of picking up new ones whenever we saw any in a store. I have AT LEAST 3 mini flashlights in my purse, one mini on my nightstand, a couple mid sized lights in the drawers, and a Maglight by the door.  There are probably twice that many downstairs, lol.

[Clemsondana]

We have one of those emergency fire ladders upstairs. They say that they are single use, so unless you buy a spare you can't practice with it. In our house, the upstairs is the play room and the bedrooms are on the main floor, so it's not as big of a concern. In the house I lived in when my kids were little, I had planned how I would try to get a 3yo and a baby out by myself (my husband travels for work). It is much less scary now that they are big!

[Joules]

We have one of the emergency ladders that isn’t single use. It is worth practicing. If you have an older house with small windows, it is hard to squeeze out particularly with a kid in arms. It helps to have a piece of furniture in front of the escape window that can be used as a step up to the window if it is chest height. Remember you are going out legs first onto a ladder or rope.

[regentrude]

We never did a home fire drill. We have, however, several times talked about emergency exits. Both upstairs bedrooms have windows through which one can step onto the porch roof (we have done that), and we have not put screens on those windows to make exit easier. From the porch roof, one can jump into bushes below that will break the fall.

 

[Rachel]

We have had fire drills but have not practiced escaping from an upstairs window, just talked about how to escape and also to leave the door closed and stuff clothes in the crack. I ordered fire escape ladders, I fully intend to practice using them when they arrive. My oldest just turned 10, I really think he is just now old enough to use one of the fire escape ladders.

 

When he was 4 and 5 we talked about making sure he got out of the fire and no matter what not to try to get his infant brother. I hated to tell him that, but we felt it was the only safe way he could escape and hopefully if he closed his bedroom door fireman could get baby when they arrived. I love having my bedroom on the first floor until I think about a fire, then I hate being so far from my kids.

[plansrme]

We have not had drills, but since the kids were tiny, I have stressed that, in the case of a fire, you should get your own self out and then stand with a hand touching the mailbox so I can tell who is out and who is not.  I do not want my husband, me, an older child or firefighters running around looking for a kid who is wandering safely outside.  Fortunately, we've never had to test whether they remember this instruction, but the youngest is 14 now, and I still bring it up from time to time.  

[skimomma]

Our bedrooms are at great heights.  The master windows open up to a porch roof so that is an easy egress.  Dd's is a three story drop.  We bought a fire ladder when she moved into that room.  It is "single use" and there is pretty much no way I would ever have her practice climbing down it, but we do a drill about once a year to make sure she can open the window, pop the screen, and hook up the ladder securely.  It is a little tricky with our window frames so we feel this is necessary.  We also have a meet up location planned.  Unfortunately, like many people, our stupid alarms go off all the time for no reason we can figure so no one takes them seriously anymore.  

Edited February 6, 2018 by skimomma

[Ravin]

We haven't done any sort of practice. We live in a 2 story townhouse. All the windows are large, and the fall would not be from so high that if the alternative is staying in a burning building, dropping feet first would be a bad idea, at least for the kids. Realistically, I'm not sure DH would be able to get out through a window with his present physical limitations, even if we had ladders.

 

A drill would still be a good idea. I'm not sure DS knows how to open the window.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Kids sleep on the first floor.  We haven't done practice, but I have talked about it several times.  I have only emphasized getting out and not looking for us (we are on the third floor). 

 

 

[edelweiss]

We have a fire ladder but we've never practiced with it.  I don't know that we would use it anyway.  My younger daughter has a bedroom that has a window that steps out onto the roof.  Fortunately all of our bedrooms are upstairs clustered together, so we should all be able to get to her room.  We did recently add on to our house and we now have a new master bedroom on the first floor.  I don't know that I will move down to it anytime soon though because my younger daughter prefers that I sleep near her (our house is large and I would be unlikely to hear anything from my new bedroom if my daughters needed me in any way).  I am thinking that it is best to remain in my current bedroom for now.

[Beth S]

A friend & I were just discussing this yesterday.  I thought their family dogs would be an asset to alert the family.  We have 5 smoke detectors.  With functioning batteries.

But I thought it was helpful to SEE Jack using the sheets & mattress during the show with such success.

 

Yes, I know it's fictional.  I still love it.  :)

 

[lmrich]

No we have not. The two bedrooms that do not have easy access have a fire ladder. The other two rooms would be great to escape from as they can just walk on to the roof of the sunporch or the lattice of the deck which they have done for fun many times. .. I tend to make sure the hallway is clear at night and get annoyed when the kids dump stuff in 'their escape route' which they make fun of me for, but oh well.. I can take it. 

[regentrude]

Can you explain to me what makes a fire ladder "single use"? Surely, it must enable multiple people to climb down in case of fire. So, how come you cannot practice? I can't wrap my mind around the "single use ladder" concept.

[regentrude]

I think they only inflate/open once, like a quick pull life jacket or airbag. That’s my best guess anyway ;)

 

they are inflatable? Not like a rope ladder?

[Rachel]

Can you explain to me what makes a fire ladder "single use"? Surely, it must enable multiple people to climb down in case of fire. So, how come you cannot practice? I can't wrap my mind around the "single use ladder" concept.

They come folded up, sort of spring loaded. Apparently some styles are difficult to fold back up.

[skimomma]

They come folded up, sort of spring loaded. Apparently some styles are difficult to fold back up.

 

It's also covering-their-ass situation.  The ladders are not made to the same standard as regular ladders so they say that so you don't try to use it as a regular ladder.  There is not a safety factor of 2+ and not meant to handle repeat fatigue cycles, like a regular ladder.  Ours is a pain to put back together but not impossible.

 

ETA:  It's not like you are going to be standing there with your house on fire and be like, "Gee, I guess I'll just sit here in the fire because this ladder was opened once."  

Edited February 6, 2018 by skimomma

[Cecropia]

It's also covering-their-ass situation.  The ladders are not made to the same standard as regular ladders so they say that so you don't try to use it as a regular ladder.  There is not a safety factor of 2+ and not meant to handle repeat fatigue cycles, like a regular ladder.  Ours is a pain to put back together but not impossible.

 

ETA:  It's not like you are going to be standing there with your house on fire and be like, "Gee, I guess I'll just sit here in the fire because this ladder was opened once."  

 

Yeah, I figured the underlying reason was something like, "Discard your child's car seat even in the case of a minor accident, because there might be invisible stress cracks"...

 

ETA: We have a X-it ladder which is marketed as a reusable ladder.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Cecropia

[mamakelly]

We all sleep upstairs on the 2nd floor. We have practiced fire drills multiple times with our kids. We made them climb out windows and climb down the safety ladders. It made me feel safer, knowing that the kids knew what to do in the event of an emergency.

[73349]

We've had daytime drills. DS knows our first choice is "get low and go"--down the stairs and straight out the front door. He's only to consider going out the window over the porch roof if his door is hot or there's too much smoke.

 

We don't have a ladder. Our most likely sources of fire are all on the first floor or in the crawlspace. We do have smoke detectors, and have converted to Close Before Doze (bedroom doors closed at night) after seeing Barb's pictures.

Edited February 6, 2018 by whitehawk