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.