In Florida, in the winter, our humidity can become very arid and dry. This is when drought begins here in our state. In 1998, we experienced one of the worst seasons for forest fires ever recorded. Entire counties were evacuated; the local news and even the weather channel had seemingly nonstop reports fanning the fire of paranoia.

Looking across the river, at night you could see the distant glow of the fires , which had started in the winter and were popping up just about everywhere. Ambers from the fire started to make their way across the river somehow and empty lots and small tracts that were designated preserves, dry from the drought were vulnerable to fire too. It did not take much before the reality we’d seen only on TV was in our neighborhoods beachside!

It was late and my entire family was fast asleep in our two story home. We live near the beach on a barrier island. We were usually not susceptible to changes such as drought, but in the summer of 1998 Florida was on fire . At around 2:30AM I jumped up in our bed smelling smoke. I ran upstairs checking on our two teenagers, then the babies room, everyone was fine. So I went back to bed, but the smell became stronger. The second time I got up, I ran upstairs waking the children as my wife grabbed the baby we made our way outside. Our teenagers laughed at me and my wife asked “where is the fire”; but the smoke was there.

I keep a fire extinguisher in our kitchen, and I went inside for it. I looked in our second floor attic, thinking our roof caught fire from an amber or something. Meanwhile, my family was at the edge of our driveway, which was our fire plan. I believe it is important for every family to have one.

Thank goodness there was no fire in our house or around it for that matter, my wife thought it was hysterical and my kids thought I was nuts. “Can we go back to bed now?” before I let them go to sleep I made sure again that they knew where the fire extinguisher was , and that they needed to make sure everyone was out of the house if we even think there is a fire.

We were lucky that evening, but several beachside areas did catch fire that week . I slept easier knowing our family had a plan , a fire extinguisher and now had a Chinese Fire Drill . Having a fire plan is no joke and this video from Honeywell is a great start to creating a fire plan for your family.

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