O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

Good morning, all!

I do hope you have had a wonderful weekend. Since I walked into the office this morning and realized that Christmas is next week (and Hanukkah begins tomorrow!), I did want to pass along an admittedly shocking video that was sent to me by Eraina Perrin, my wonderful Community Emergency Preparedness Corps point of contact at the Atlanta Points of Light office! In this video, published by the Fire Kills Campaign and publicized by the government of the United Kingdom in this article, one can see just how quickly a fire can spread. The entire living room is destroyed in under a minute by a fire that starts at just the base of the tree. 

Please, definitely take a minute to check off this holiday preparedness list:

• Do I have working smoke alarms on every level of my home? 
• Have I tested my smoke alarms within the past month?
• Are the electrical sockets in my home overloaded with extra plugs for Christmas?
• You will want to have no more than one plug per socket. This is an easy way to prevent electrical fires.
• When I light candles, am I making sure to supervise them constantly and extinguish the flame before leaving the room?
• When cooking, am I making sure I am always in the room and turning off any heat sources when finished?
• If I am a smoker, am I making sure to put out my cigarette immediately and not smoke in bed?

I also would like to note that if you read the article, it mentions to call 999 in case of an emergency. This is the U.K.'s emergency hotline. As long as you are in the United States, please make sure you are getting to safety and calling 911!

And without further ado, please do check out this video. It is alarming (pardon my pun) to see just how quickly fire can spread and how little time you may have to escape. Don't forget to keep your smoke alarms working and test them monthly, and avoid the hazards bulleted above.

Stay safe, y'all!