Planning

The announcement chilled my blood to deep in my gut- "This is one of those people who had to jump out of their apartment in Vestavia this morning." Of course my first thought was "We live in an apartment in Vestavia!" A quick call to Wonderful calmed that fear, but she informed me that one of our friends was injured jumping from her apartment in the early morning fire, and was in my hospital. I got the necessary information from my wife, and after my shift I found my way to her room where her children were keeping vigil over her sleeping form. This friends's youngest son plays soccer with my son, and I asked him what it was like having such an odd alarm clock wake him. His proud answer was typical for his young age- "I aimed perfect when I threw my dog out the window onto the pillow." I chuckled and asked his older brother if they needed anything. The Body Of Christ has responded superbly to their needs as best I can tell.
Returning home that night I thought about the fact that the tragedy could have been so much worse than an injured mother and loss of all belongings. People die far too often from fires in the home, and among the most tragic deaths are those preventable deaths of children. As soon as we had a quiet moment that night I sent my kids to bed, shut off the lights, and activated a smoke alarm in the hall. My oldest responded almost exactly as we had practiced months before, and with some prompting from their brother my giggly girls followed suit. Not every plan is perfect, but when a few basic plans are well-known to everyone the handling of an emergency will be much less likely to have a tragic ending. I encourage every family to develop a few simple evacuation routes through your home with a well-defined gathering area that is out of danger. Also please help your child learn not to hide during a fire. Youngsters that are lost to fires are often found afterwards in a hiding place. It makes sense to them to hide from a scary fire, but it keeps them from being found by rescuers.

We praise the Lord for His protection, and we are praying for you guys. Get well Mrs. Sue!