Lessons learned from a fire…

On December 16th 2006 my parents and siblings lost their home to a fire. It was an accidental electrical fire that started in the garage. Everyone was able to make it out safely due to the fact they had smoke detectors in every room including the garage. Unfortunately they lost just about all of their possessions to smoke or fire damage.

Now here is what I have learned…

Have smoke detectors in as many rooms as possible, even the garage. If you have children make sure they have one in each of their bedrooms. They have smoke detectors now that use a voice or you can even record a message using your own voice. Studies have shown that children respond much better to a voice rather than a beeping or buzzing noise.

Have a plan and practice it.

Yes we have all heard this since we were kids, guess what it works.

Make sure your insurance is up to date and includes *replacement value and *code upgrades.

Why is this important?

*Replacement value ~ Look at all of your belongings and then try to figure out how much it would cost to replace everything…it is a lot of money. When you have replacement value you are able to replace things at what is costs today - not 5 or 10 years ago when you bought it.

*Code upgrades ~ When your house is being rebuilt it will need to be brought up to code. This means there may need to be extra things done to your house that were not there before, such as upgraded wiring. If the code upgrade is not in your policy you will have to pay the difference. There are many homes that are not able to be rebuilt simply because the homeowner is unable to pay the extra costs.

Many people think they have everything in their policies - please ask your insurance agent specifically if you have code upgrades.

Take pictures of everything in your house and make copies of all important documents.

Imagine opening your junk drawer, looking inside then closing it. Now name everything in that drawer. Now try doing that with everything in your house. It’s nearly impossible. Having a record of everything will make things much easier.
Now the key to this is have copies somewhere other than your house. Give copies to a friend, family member or put them in a safety deposit box.

Do not overload plugs or leave candles unattended.

Yes we have all heard this but how many times have we heard ‘ Fire caused by an unattended candle ‘, ‘ Fire caused by multiple plugs in one socket’ or ‘Home did not have (working) smoke detectors.’

Be safe,

TAT

***I am obviously not a professional in this department – these are just personal lessons learned from my experience. Please contact a professional (Fire Department or insurance agent) if you have any questions.***

New blog

Hi all,

So I decided there was no way that I could stick to one subject, I am a subject jumper, so I started a new blog. Please come check me out at http://TAT-chat.blogspot.com
I hope I see you all there

TAT aka ItSmellsLike