This post is important. It’s especially important for those of you who have “live” Christmas trees in your homes. In some cases, the wonderful smelling, beautiful live tree experience can be a fire hazard. Don’t believe me? The National Fire Prevention Association states that firefighters respond to an average of 250 home structure fires that began with Christmas trees resulting in 14 deaths, 26 injuries and over six million dollars worth of damage. That’s a sobering bunch of statistics. More sobering is a video comparison of a dry tree (left) and a wet, maintained tree (right).

That’s right. The whole room was fully engulfed in less than 40 seconds. Do you know how scary that is? Think about how long 40 seconds is for just a moment. Is that enough time to round up your children and get out the door? What if you’re in the opposite corner of the house unloading the dryer or trying to find the presents you have hidden in your storage room? Could you get to your children and get out of your house in less than 40 seconds? That’s a scary thought, isn’t it?

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be the case. In short, “a wet tree is a safe tree.” The information from NIST is encouraging and informative. (They also have a comparative video on above link.) Here’s what their research concluded.

Wet trees tell a different story. For comparative purposes, the NIST researchers selected a green Scotch pine, had it cut in their presence, had an additional two inches cut from the trunk’s bottom, and placed the tree in a stand with at least a 7.6 liter water capacity. The researchers maintained the Scotch pine’s water on a daily basis. A single match could not ignite the tree. A second attempt in which an electric current ignited an entire matchbook failed to fire the tree. Finally they applied an open flame to the tree using a propane torch. The branches ignited briefly, but self-extinguished when the researchers removed the torch from the branches. Trees that have been watered properly, and maintain pliable, green needles are harder to ignite than dry trees with needles that break easily when bent and fall from the tree when the branches are shaken.

In short you need to cut your own tree from a tree farm. Do not purchase trees that are pre-cut from roadside stands. And you need to water it. Daily. If you’re going to grandma’s house for four days, don’t go with a real tree this year. Watering is insanely important.

As much as a dry, unmaintained tree can be a fire hazard, it’s not the only fire safety concern when it comes to the holiday season. The US Fire Association (USFA) has some important tips on keeping your family fire safe this year. Here are some very important things you need to do before you decorate or now if you’ve already decked your halls.

• Maintain your lights. Check for frayed wires, bare spots or other unsafe spots in your wiring.
• Do not overload electrical outlets. Do not link more than three strands. Check wires by touch; they should not be warm.
• Do not leave holiday lights unattended. I know they’re pretty but turn them off when you’re going to Christmas Eve service or dinner at grandma’s house.
• Use only nonflammable decorations. Keep all decorations away from heat vents.
• Never put wrapping paper in a fire place.
• Avoid using lit candles. Always extinguish them before you leave or sleep. Never put them on a tree. Never.

There are some other suggestions as well.

I share all of this information with you not to be a Scrooge. I love holiday decorations, lights and Christmas trees. As a sharing point, no, we don’t have a real tree in our house. When FireDad showed me these videos this past Friday night after getting home from a week at the Fire Academy for Fire Investigator education, I asked one simple question, “Is that why we don’t have a real tree.” His reply was in the affirmative, of course. I do share this information with you so that you are aware. It is possible to have a well-maintained, live Christmas tree and other safe decorations around your home. It is possible to have a fire safe holiday.

It would be in your best interest to go ahead and remind your children what to do if there is a fire, test your smoke alarms and practice fire safety this holiday season. You could be extra-dorky, like me, and attach these gift tags to any gifts you’re giving this season that will remind others to practice fire safety as well. They’re festive and they promote safety. Just like us. (But we don’t attach well to gifts. Go with the printable tags.)

Be fire safe this holiday season!

Prematurity is an issue that is very close to my heart. I walk (almost) every year with March of Dimes because I am so grateful to have birthed three healthy children. To get them to that point of healthiness, I had to work very hard, lay very still and rely on the medical world to keep my children in my womb. I’m not particularly good at pregnancy, my kidney disorder causing preterm labor to begin as early as eighteen weeks.

I’ll be telling more of my story, especially for my newer readers who don’t know about my very complicated pregnancy history, on November 17th here on the blog. Why? March of Dimes is hosting a Bloggers Unite event entitled Fight for Preemies as part of Prematurity Awareness Month®. We will be participating and telling our story, or rather, stories of the fight to keep those babies in my womb for as long as possible. Some of you might be thinking, “But weren’t your babies born full term?” The answer is, “Yes, but only thanks to medical intervention.”

I tell you all of this now, a month and a day before the March of Dimes & Bloggers Unite event, because I want you to tell other people. Right now there are 168 bloggers signed up to participate. Sadly, with over 500,000 babies born premature every year, I know that there are more than 168 bloggers out there touched by prematurity. Maybe you didn’t have to fight preterm labor or use medical interventions to stay pregnant. Maybe you didn’t give birth to a premature baby. But I’m guessing that you know someone or are related to someone who has experienced premature birth. Maybe you are the aunt or uncle of a beautiful premature miracle. Maybe you lit a candle yesterday for a baby you were waiting for that lost the battle. Whatever the case, March of Dimes wants you to get involved. In their words, “We need to fight ? because babies shouldn’t have to.” Yes. What they said.

Here’s how.

November 17 is dedicated to raising awareness of the crisis of premature birth. The March of Dimes invites bloggers like you to get involved.

• Learn about premature birth at marchofdimes.com/fightforpreemies.
• Put a badge on your blog during November, Prematurity Awareness Month®. (Ours is already up.)
• On November 17, blog for a baby you love and to help others. Sign up Bloggers Unite so that others may find you and your post(s).

What makes me all the more emotional about this topic is that they are holding the Bloggers Unite event on BigBrother’s birthday. While he was born at a robust eight pounds, eight ounces, that pregnancy was hard won. It started off difficult and remained that was for its 38 week, 4 day duration. We are so blessed that we can participate in Fight for Preemies while simultaneously celebrating four years of his life. Without research and support by March of Dimes, that might not be the case.

Come back on November 17th to hear about the hows and whys of BigBrother’s tumultuous pregnancy and the similarities between the other two live births. We will also be reading, commenting and linking to other Fight for Preemies posts on that day via twitter and our blog here. If you plan on participating, please let me know. I want to be ready to link to your story.

Come back and learn how these two boys (and their sister) got the chance to be so big.

And noisy. Don’t forget noisy.

It’s not just up to the firefighters who visit your child’s school to teach your children about the importance of fire safety. At the same time, you don’t need to have an overly dramatic discussion with your younger children to teach them little bits of information about the subject either. As you know if you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, we love books. Books can be a great teaching tool, especially for the younger set. Storybooks are great for this, even when it comes to something as serious as fire safety. Read on for three great examples of books that have combined a great story with fire safety.

The Firefighters by Sue Whiting (Author) and Donna Rawlins (Illustrator) is a book I got from our library. I’ll admit that I knew nothing about it and grabbed it solely based on the title and the photo on the cover. It’s a cute cover! The book itself is lovely. The book follows three little “firefighters” as they imagine their way into the fire truck (a box) along with their teacher and zoom off to the fire. They put on oxygen masks (hankerchiefs) and work very hard to put it out. I love imagination and so this book is an automatic favorite of mine. BigBrother and LittleBrother are also constantly putting out imaginary fires so they find this book to be fabulous. The reason I have included it in this post of books that contain fire safety tips is because, after the children put out their imaginary fire like the real firefighters, real ones show up to teach them about fire safety! They’re taught to “get down low and go, go, go” if a building they are in catches on fire. At first glance, you may think it’s just part of the story but your children pick up on this information. It’s a great little lesson in a great little book about firefighters. (As a side note, one of the children pretending to be a firefighter is a girl and one of the firefighters who arrives is a woman. HOORAY!)

Spark the Firefighter by Stephen Krensky (Author) and Amanda Haley (Illustrator) is a book I recently purchased through our Scholastic book order at preschool. I rarely pass up a firefighter book in the book orders and I wasn’t disappointed with this particular one. The story follows a dragon who is, get this, afraid of fire. BigBrother found that to be rather amusing. Spark then decides to join the fire department to train himself not to be afraid of fire. (I must admit that this doesn’t seem like a particularly good idea for people who are afraid of fire.) He goes through the training (carrying ladders, studying about caring for people who are burned). Eventually he gets to fight a real fire and proves that he isn’t afraid of it anymore. He then comes back to help train new recruits. So where’s the fire safety lesson? In the middle of the book, it shows Spark at the school, teaching the children about fire safety. The chalkboard reads, “Never Play with Fire!” The fire chief explains, as Spark rolls around on the ground, what you should do in a fire (crawl under the smoke and stop, drop and roll if your clothes catch on fire). Once again, it seems like a two-page-spread in a story about a dragon but it doubles as a very important lesson. This book is simply adorable. I love Spark and so do TheBrothers.

The last book we love when it comes to fire safety tips is Clifford The Firehouse Dog. We love Clifford in this house, whether in book, television or movie form. So, Clifford as a firefighter is an easy love. In this story, Clifford and Emily Elizabeth go to visit Clifford’s brother, Nero, a firehouse dog. As they’re visiting, the fire siren rings. We then follow Clifford and the firefighters as they make their way to the fire and put it out. Clifford helps in his big and tall ways. At the end, Clifford is mad an honorary fire rescue dog just like his brother. The fire safety tips in this book occur in two places. At the beginning of the book, before the fire siren rings, a group of children have arrived at the station to learn about fire safety. Nero teaches them how to stop, drop and roll. (So does Clifford but, at his size and with his Clifford-like-luck, he ends up crushing something. Not a child.) A list of fire safety rules also appears at the very end of the book. Things like knowing the way out of your house, choosing a place to meet and never using the stove alone are all on the list. I loved that they included a list at the end of the book! Clifford wins again!

You can see by these three examples that storybooks can still teach our children very important lessons. When it comes to teaching our children about fire safety, we don’t always have to be in-your-face dramatic about it. Fire safety is serious. No doubt about it. However, children learn things in a variety of ways. Presenting information about what to do in case of a fire in a non-threatening way can help them learn it and memorize it without either of you even realizing it.

Now it’s up to you, once they’ve been exposed to the information, to ask them at random times, “What do you do if your clothes catch on fire? How do you get out of the house if it is filled with smoke? What number do you dial if there is a fire?” Use the books and ask the questions.

Be fire safe!

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[Disclosure: The Firefighters was borrowed from the library. We purchased the other two books.]

This week is Fire Prevention Week. If you have children in some form of school, you might see them come home with papers on fire safety. You might hear that a fire truck has visited their school or that they took a walk to the local fire station. While the involvement of firefighters and fire departments in our kids’ school is beyond beneficial, the truth is that you can start at home, well before your kids head to preschool. It’s never too early to start talking about fire safety. This week I’ll be bringing you tips, book reviews and other great things about fire safety.

Today I though I would bring you some links so that you can utilize the Internet as you teach your children about the importance of fire safety. Even very young children can utilize Internet sites, whether for games, for reading or for printing coloring pages. All they need is you to help them locate the sites, work on whatever the site offers and to explain the importance of each site and safety tip. Here are some of my favorites.

1. The National Fire Prevention Week website actually has some great resources for parents and kids. Things like the Fire Safety Inspection Checklist (.pdf) and the Fire Safety Information card are great activities to complete with older children. The arcade on site provides for a fun way to bring a discussion about fire safety into your learning process. For the youngest set, a coloring page with Sparky is made available that highlights the important things to remember to prepare for and in the midst of a fire emergency.

2. Sprout, the PBS kids channel, has a great Fire Safety Week program going on right now, including on their website. This site provides more coloring pages, including a counting one, a Fireman Sam one and some others. (A fun thing on the Sprout site allows for you to upload a picture of your kids’ artwork once it has been completed for others’ viewing pleasure on the website! Cool!) There are also some videos on their Fire Safety page.

3. USFA Kids (US Fire Administration) has a great site that combines pertinent information (Home Fire Safety, Smoke Alarms, and Escaping from a Fire) with some games (Crossword Puzzles, Coloring Pages, a test to be a Jr. Fire Marshal among other things). I found this site to be particularly easy to navigate for a computer-independent child who wants to learn on her own.

4. Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog is one of my favorite programs regarding fire safety. Sparkles’ owner, Firefighter Dayna, is passionate about fire safety (just like we are!). They’re actually part of the Fire Safety Week on Sprout this year! Their site offers more activity pages, GREAT fire safety videos and crafts.

These are just some great online resources for you, as a parent, to help your children understand the importance of fire safety. As a parent you need to know these things as well. First and foremost, know your house’s floor plan and make a fire escape plan should an emergency occur. Teach things as simple as “stop, drop and roll” and the importance of getting low should the hallway be filled with smoke. As you help your child navigate the online resources for learning about fire safety, make sure you’re up-to-date on all of your knowledge. Your family’s lives depend on it!

Tomorrow I will have a review of some younger child storybooks that also highlight some fire safety points. Be sure to tune in all week as I bring you various tips, fun pictures and other pertinent facts on fire safety. (Also, as this is October and Halloween is just around the corner, check out our review of the best firefighter costume on the market right now, pictured above.)