Family Fire Safety Plan with Onelink by First Alert

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Life can change in mere minutes. I still remember the exact moment that I knew our home was on fire. We weren’t prepared. We hadn’t talked about what to do in this situation. But by the grace of God, we got out quickly and safely. That is not always the case, so today I wanted to share how to develop a family fire safety plan.

Thank you Onelink by First Alert for sponsoring this post. A smart home should start with smart protection and Onelink by First Alert welcomes you to a smarter, safer home.

Family Fire Safety Plan

Our house fire was in our previous home, and you can read about our personal experience in my post on our home remodel after the fire. Since then, we’ve moved and have been advocates of fire safety.

Fires can happen in the blink of an eye. Many different causes are prevalent, but one of them is children playing with matches and lighters. So today, I wanted to share some fire safety tips for kids as well as steps we’ve taken in our own home to ensure our family’s safety.

Fire Safety Tips for Kids

Educate Them

First, education is the most important tool. Teach your kids what can happen if they choose to play with fire. Next, teach them what a smoke alarm sounds like, and what to do if they hear it.

Consider this: How many times have your kids spilled a liquid and you’ve watched them simply stare at it rather than try to stop it. They don’t pick up the cup. They don’t run to grab a towel. It’s like they are transfixed by their mistake because they are inexperienced and perhaps haven’t been taught what to do to remedy the problem.

Now imagine that they hear a terrifying and loud noise. If they haven’t been taught what the noise means, and what to do when they hear it, then their reactions will be the same. They can easily be paralyzed. Perhaps they will hide in fear. They might not even come to a stranger’s voice trying to find them.

That is why it’s so important to educate them. And that leads to my second fire safety tip for kids: Practice your family fire safety plan.

Practice an Evacuation Plan

Every home should have fire safety rules and an evacuation plan. Your plan will be specific to your home, but every plan should include at least two routes out of the house, a meeting point outside, and the motto of “Get Out, Stay Out” so children don’t go back into a burning building looking for parents.

The American Red Cross has some detailed tips that are very helpful if you want assistance creating your own evacuation plan. Make sure to practice your plan at least twice a year to keep your kids familiar with the process.

Install & Test Smoke Alarms

For general fire safety, also make sure to test your alarms regularly. We just upgrade our hardwired fire alarms to the Onelink Smart Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm and Onelink Safe & Sound system.

Installation of the units was extremely easy for our hardwired system. The Onelink Smart Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm also has a battery operated option for those who don’t have hardwired alarm systems.

We’ve been updating our home to more and more smart-home enabled conveniences and this system sends push notifications alerting you to where the issue is in your home. This provides extra assurance, whether we are home or away, that our home is in good hands.

We also love that the Onelink Safe & Sound alarm clearly communicates with both voice alerts and the traditional beep alarm, making it easier for small children to understand where the danger is.

We love the Alexa compatibility of Onelink Safe & Sound. After some connectivity issues in the initial set up, we chatted with an amazing customer service representative and discovered how to work the app best for our second installation.

The sound system is amazing and the convenience of all of Alexa’s features is top-notch. This smart home enabled system has been a great addition to our daily routine.

You can learn more about Onelink by First Alert in this video.

Next Steps

Now that you have some simple steps to take to ensure your family’s safety in the event of a fire, take them! Don’t put off something this important because you think it is not something that will happen to you. Thankfully my family was safe, but we were still displaced from our home for 6 months and have dealt with the emotional aftereffects for years with our son.

1. Educate your children
2. Establish a fire safety plan & evacuation route
3. Practice fire safety
4. Install smoke alarms in every bedroom and common area
5. Test smoke alarms regularly

Thanks, friends, for letting me share my heart on this issue with the help of Onelink by First Alert! What is your first step you’ll be taking today?