FIreman's Top Ten Holiday Tips



Fireman is home this morning from a busy shift. He tells me about his dispatches and I thought I'd compile some tips for my good blog friend readers. Many of you know these things, but I didn't know some of them.

#1 Know where to shut the water off for your whole house. If your pipes break as the weather gets a bit warmer, you need to shut the entire water system to your house off. (He quizzed me about where our shutoff was. I was right!) Then you call a plumber. Firemen are not plumbers when they are Firemen. Only on their off days!

#2 If your oven goes on fire, shut it off and keep the door closed. Then remove yourself from the house until the Fire Dept arrives. They will check the wall behind the stove for fire inside it.

#3 If your smoke alarms are chirping and not alarming, you probably have a drained battery. The fireman will come and look at your battery. Then they will hand it to you and tell you to install a new one. Of course, if they are all going off, odds are your builder filled them all on the same day many years ago and now they are all expiring together.

#4 The Fire Deptartment doesn't own your Fire Alarm system. You need to know how to operate it. You enter your own password to reset the alarm. Know your password from when you entered it at some point. The Fire Dept cannot reset the system if you dont know the password.

#5 Know what the low battery alarm is on your CO detector. The alarm may read LB for low battery. Some people read it upside down and think it is saying 78. Sometimes they say BAT and it looks like a number upside down as well when it is simply saying Low Battery.

#6 Make sure the FD can read your address. Simple, but a common issue and it saves everyone precious time if it is easily seen.

#7 Shovel around any fire hydrant that gets snowed in on our property or nearby. I am seeing more people do this. How nice.

#8 Pull to the right for sirens and lights! Don't stop with the firetruck behind you.

#9 If you call for the Fire Dept you can help by flashing your front porch lights and it is an immediate tip to the FD that you are the house in need.

#10 Prevent a chimney fire by having it cleaned.

(Fireman would have said this all much more diplomatically. I just get bossy when I write sometimes! From Bossy Kathy b)


I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Comments

Anonymous said…
Our Fireman, DS#3, constantly fusses at me for not being able to see our address from the street. I see his point but we haven't done anything about it yet. There's a New Year's resolution in there somewhere. Thanks for the great tips and Merry Christmas to you, Fireman and the family.
NatRed2 said…
I LOVE Fireman's tips... Can I add to that from the other side of the radio?

1) 911 is NOT 411... pay the $1.75 if you really need 411 or open up the the big yellow book the phone company gives you.

2} If your Village sends out an emergency message over the phone- Please listen to it and don't call 911 to ask questions about it.

3) If you DO have a Police or Fire emergency PLEASE CALL 911 - not the Administrative number and leave a message.

4) Please do not yell at your children if they dial 911 by mistake or they are afraid. We WANT them to know how to call us if they are scared.

Sorry....I could go on and on

Fireman...Don't you just love those battery calls???
Karen said…
Please thank Fireman for giving us these wonderful tips. I would never have thought of the one to flash your porch light to signal that you are the house in need. My Dad is a volunteer EMT, and I'm sure that tip is helpful for them too!!
kathy b said…
Nat

You know the drill! Thanks for your addition to the tips. Mostly I just want folks to realize that they tie up the system for people in true jeopardy when they use the FD for battery issues. Ugh. Knowledge is power, however.
Bianca said…
These tips are indeed handy :-) Wishing Fireman and you a very Merry Christmas!
I knew all of these I'm happy to say ... but I'm in trouble. My DH talked to me about the main water line. Showed me where the shut off was and ... can I think of where it is at this very moment?

Must review that when I get home.
Thanks!
Ling said…
Thank you for sharing these great tips. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
Ps - I posted some hats to you and I hope they get to you on time - for some strange reason I thought the deadline was 15 Jan. Ooops!
kathy b said…
Ling

You are in the contest. Im sure they'll get here on time. I'll be sure to let you know when they arrive safely and thank you so much. I hope you included a note re which yarn you may want to win!
Irisheyes Lynn said…
Thanks, Fireman and Kathy! Great tips! Merry Christmas!
Jennifer said…
How about our favorite obvious ones that people forget:

1 - never leave candles unattended
2 - never leave the house with the Christmas tree lights on
3 - never leave the house with the clothes dryer turned on

I have an artificial tree as I'm afraid of real trees... especially since my tree goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Some childhood friends lost their home to a Christmas Tree fire and I watched a 3 foot tree catch on fire before my very eyes from the combination of lights, dry tree and dry midwest winter air.

Thanks to you and the fireman for such wise tips! Now I'm off to learn how to actually use my fire alarm...
Deb said…
Thanks Fireman! I'm sending the big guy (NOT Santa) out to shovel aroung the hydrant today! Also, please send a message to the Big Guy that the FD WILL NOT rescue him when he goes out on the roff tonight (like the total idiot he is) to make the reindeer prints in the 18 inches of snow on the roof. The daughter is 12 and really isn't buying the whole Santa thing anymore!

Merry Christmas to you guys!!
Marcia said…
Great tips! Please thank the fireman! And Merry Christmas!
Unknown said…
Good tips. Thanks!

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