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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975 09-30 Spend an evening with EDITH fire marshal urges REVIEW Spend an evening with EDITH, ` `pT, 30, 11'75"" fire marshal urges Save the evening of Wednesday,Oct.8, for a date with EDITH! Everyone in Maplewood will have an opportunity to welcome EDITH's annual visit, promises Fire Marshal Al Schadt. EDITH means Exit Drills In The Home and marks the annual community-wide "rehearsal" by families of plans for escape from their houses or apartrhents in case of a fire emergency. "Operation EDITH is the most im- portant single event of Fire Prevention Week, which runs from Oct. 5 through 11," explains the Fire Marshal. "Start now to work out your house escape plan, then join your neighbors in practicing the "script"so everyone in the household will know it by heart before a real crisis arises." A good plan starts with having each person sleep with his bedroom door closed,says Schadt.This is because most deadly home fires break out between midnight and 6 a.m. when everyone is likely to be asleep.That closed door gives each person the vital few extra minutes needed to escape from fire elsewhere in the house. Other main points of an escape plan,as outlined by the Fire Marshal, include having two possible ways out of each room, especially the bedrooms; a household fire alarm signal which everyone learns to recognize; an outside meeting place where the family gathers to make sure no one is left in a burning house; and a pre-arranged plan to use a neighbor's telephone or the fire alarm box to summon help(never try to make a call from inside a building on fire.) Everyone should also know to keep low, breathe through a damp cloth, open window a little for fresh air, and signal from the window for help if fire should trap him in an upstairs room. "For children, a home fire drill should be a wise mixture of seriousness and a game," suggests the Fire Marshal. "Never make it a frightening experience. Use Operation EDITH to help fix in minds young and old alike the emergency procedures to be followed, and increase your family's chances of coming through a fire unharmed.