Field Trip: Fire Station

This week I took Little BBQ to a fire station for a tour with our local moms group. I wanted him to understand the seriousness of fire. When Little BBQ was about 3, we had just moved across country by less than 3 days, and I was very pregnant with Miss Bubbles. I went to talk to Dr. Lazy Palate in the bathroom while he was shaving. I left Little BBQ in our new living room with his toys for less than 3 minutes. In our new living room was a gas fire place. We were under the impression that it was a wood fire place. We were completely wrong. In less than 3 minutes, Little BBQ had opened up the glass doors to the fire place, turned on the gas fire, and threw his toys inside the fire. The smoke detector went off. We go running through the house looking for Little BBQ. We ran in his room. We screamed his name. He did not respond.


After going to Little BBQ's room, we run into the living room to see tons of smoke. Dr. Lazy Palate drops to the ground and sees Little BBQ in front of the fire place giggling; I leave to go outside since I am pregnant. Turns out Little BBQ is happily throwing his toys in the fire. Dr. Lazy Palate ran and grabbed Little BBQ and brought him outside to where I was located. Then, he ran back inside and got some water and extinguished the fire. As it turns out it was actually a very small fire contained inside the fire place. The fire was super smoky because the vent hood was not open. In the end, everyone was all right and the smoke from the fire dusted every cob web in our new house.

Since this incident we have locked the glass doors to the fire place so Little BBQ or Miss Bubbles can not get into the fire place. We have also talked extensively to Little BBQ about fire and taught him to get out of the house if a fire occurs and where he can meet us. He knows our address, our phone number, and an emergency number. He can also get to our neighbor's house easily.

Taking him to see a fire station and truck was just another way we keep reinforcing fire safety. I want him to understand that there are serious consequences for lighting fires and that fire can hurt people. At the fire station, a firefighter discussed fire safety with the kids. Then the kids got to sit in the fire truck. As a treat, a firefighter turned on the lights on the fire truck for the kids to see. I highly recommend taking your kids to a fire station or teaching them about fire. It could save their lives one day.