Is Your Home Accessible to the Fire Department?

The beginning of June brought some more lessons.  Seems this is my year for accidents and mishaps all in the name of learning and teaching.  Our house was stuck by lightening during the last storm of June 1st.  Faced with a possible home fire I was forced to look around at access to my house.  The house was hit by our garage door.  We smelled smoke and called 911.  Kudos to the cellular 911 (our Verizon was out) getting us to the Norwood 911 ASAP and kudos to the Norwood Fire and Police, who arrived within what seemed seconds.  Thankfully there was no fire, just some scorched siding and a few burnt out electronics.

It took us a few seconds to realize we were struck.  During that time I was amazed I stayed somewhat composed.  I had the girls put on their shoes and coats, grabbed the dog and put him on his leash.  We then waited as the firemen checked the house.  I was ready to bolt at any minute and was surprised I didn’t give my photos a second thought.  You see I have always been terrified of a home fire and losing everything.  Of course the only thing that really matters is the safety of our family.

We were also reminded of the warning not to use electronics during a storm.  I am normally vigilant about unplugging things during a storm but the Bruins were playing so we sat “safely” in our basement watching the game.  I also didn’t notice that my daughter was using her iPod and that it was charging in the wall.  The bolt struck on the opposite side of the house but it sent a jolt through the house, zapping her finger.  The shock went through her to me and to my husband even though neither one of us was touching her.  Thankfully we are all fine but I will not make this mistake again!

So I ask, is your house accessible to the fire department?  I realized that even though my office, which is next to the garage, is organized there is still quite a bit in the way had they needed to start ripping out the wall.  Our garage has become a temporary storage area as we are doing some purging and remodeling.  Had there been a fire there I am sure they could have worked around these things but I would prefer they have better access.  Often when we think of clutter fire danger we picture people with small paths through the clutter of their house.  I am now looking beyond that and will strive to have even less stuff.  I will also be looking at my client’s spaces differently.