Comments on: Fire safety ladder, yes or no?

By: Shell

Shell — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:41:56 +0000

my 5 year-old son and i practiced fire drill numerous times when we got out the fog machine to decorate for halloween this year. it was great – you couldn’t see because the fog was so thick and he made sure to tell me “stay low mommie to get away from the smoke.” I showed him how to open the windows, and if he couldn’t get either the window open or even couldn’t get the screen open, how to break the window to get out. I thought for sure that I would be replacing several windows after that but he totally shocked me. I saw him pretending to get out and he showed everybody that happened to stop by what they had to do at our house to get out if there was a fire – he hasn’t shown any interest in “playing” with the windows, etc., like I thought for sure would happen. Today I asked my parents to get me a safety ladder for Christmas. This web site was very helpful – I just hope we never need to use the ladder. Better to be safe than sorry.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:45:28 +0000

We don’t have safety ladders, but we were just talking about it recently. It may be something we need to get.

By: Bily

Bily — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:32:12 +0000

We have a 2 story home, and after reading some horror stories about people being trapped in their homes, we started to do some research on the products. After talking wtih fire professionals and friends, we realized that in an emergency we just wanted to have the ability to get out. The portable ladders we saw, just did not look all that safe and or easy to deploy, especially in an emergency situation, or if it was dark. So we opted for a permanent escape ladder that is built into the wall below the window. We have kids aged 3 and 1.5 and neither one of them has really taken hard notice of its presence. The think I liked about these Pearl ladders, is that they can be tested and reused. I hope I never have to use them in an emergency, but when I did test one of them, it was much sturdier then I imagined it would be. At the appropriate time, I will teach my older son how to throw it out the window in an emergency, and then wait for someone to come up an get him. Probably at age 4.

By: arizaphale

arizaphale — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:38:40 +0000

I always meant to get one in the UK where everyone lives in two story houses but never did. Now I’m back in Australia I don’t think of it cos houses here are bungalows, except, oh dear, we live in a two story house! (duh-oh)

Love your photo of the piles of stools…looks like something my daughter would have done.:-) Sometimes I think we got this far more by good luck than good management……

By: jo(e)

jo(e) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:35:45 +0000

We have a fire safety ladder in the kids’ bedroom, and when they were little, we practiced using it. It took a few times to get the hang of climbing out the window onto this dangling ladder. We actually had lots of fun doing the fire drills, with me timing them and us racing to beat our record, until suddenly we were getting too competitive and I realized that having my kids fling themselves out of upper story windows in an attempt to beat a record was perhaps not the safest thing to do ….

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:50:05 +0000

I think ladders are a great idea…sure there’s some teaching required, and you need to know the capabilities of your younger children, but it’s always better to have OPTIONS than NO OPTIONS.

With all of the recent fires (Ocean Isle, Rochester etc.) I have been wondering what a difference a ladder could have made???

We found a ladder that we like called PEARL…it’s permanent…installed in the wall below the window…the company says that the temporary ladders take time to find and install when seconds matter.

We just think of this as insurance!

By: bill

bill — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:57:25 +0000

Safety ladder, hmm…what, no ‘every living space should be equipped with a halon-based fire suppressant system or suitable carbon-dioxide alternative’; ‘doors should be rated to withstand a minimum of four thousand (F) degrees for fifteen minutes’; a Safety Evacuation Chute System shall be installed in every room where a Safety Ladder is not practical’; ‘Nomex or Nomex-based sleepwear shall be used by all permanent household residents’.

Sheesh. Break out the marshmallows.

By: MotherPie

MotherPie — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:23:46 +0000

When we moved into the top floor of a high-rise in NYC we had to cover fire information and how to escape. But covering topics like this is important mothering. Just like teaching teens what they need to know about alcohol and other dangers… even if you think they won’t do it.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:11:26 +0000

Eek! I’ve never even thought about it – we don’t have a fire ladder, but we’ll definitely need one. The kids are both too little now to be able to use one, but soon enough I’m sure that won’t be the case! But I agree – they are climbers, and having a ladder around is going to be mighty tempting!

By: sara

sara — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:03:58 +0000

single story here, but in the house i grew up in we had no fire ladder. but (glad im too old to be scolded) without my parents knowledge *i think* my two best friends and i would go out my back bedroom window, down a TERRIFYINGLY steep tin roof, to another lower part of the house, (we were 3 stories high in my room as it was more of an attic type loft room) then all they way across that roof to the back where the back of the house was partially underground so we only had to jump off about 4 feet.

i know what you mean, im terrified of fire, and what my boys would do, they are so little, dylan wouldn’t even stand a chance, he cant even get out of his crib.