What safety/security items do you own?

[HonoluluMom]

I'm really thinking I need to beef up on safety/security items. Here are my thoughts on the basics.

Any suggestions? What do you have?

At home:
- Fire extinguisher downstairs
- Fire extinguisher for the second level
- Safety ladder, or is it overkill? http://www.amazon.com/Kidde-Two-Story-Escape-Anti-Slip-13-Foot/dp/B00005OU7B/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325123716&sr=8-2
- Home security system
- Pepper spray (but wonder whether I'd be able to use it in an emergency)

In my car:
- Life hammer (and a key chain version)

[Kindra178]

Crank flashlight? So nice not to worry about batteries. Crank radio?

[kdeunc]

I have every item on your list. I also have a weather radio because we live in an area with tornados and hurricanes.

[mytwosons]

I also have fire extinguishers in my glove box and trunk. We recently had two local instances of people being killed in car fires and one of the moms here knew someone who lost a child in an horrific fire.

ETA: for home fire extinguishers, we keep one in the kitchen and one in each bedroom closet.

[Jo..]

Fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, and BIG knives, which I would use without hesitation if I needed to protect my family. I lay awake many nights thinking about what I would do if my home was on fire or invaded...seriously. I know where the nearest baseball bat, crowbar, and knife is, and how long it would take me to get to each one. (BTW I live in a safe town with about zero crime..I am just crazy and jaded).

I would also stab someone in the eye with a finger or kick them in the nuts faster than you could SAY "pepper spray".

A safety ladder is a fine idea if you are there to help the children, or if they are old enough to use it themselves in a crisis. Otherwise, it's garbage.

[mommylamb]

don't forget Carbon Monoxide detectors

[abh5e8]

well, we have a fire extinguisher and 2 smoke detectors....but no ladder, since we live in a ranch. i have never thought about an extinguisher for the basement...but its unfinished, we aren't down there much at all.

no security system, but we live in a quiet neighborhood. i do have my C&C permit. weather radio too. off to google life hammer.

good thoughts on the car extinguishers.

[ahisma]

We have a fire extinguisher, smoke detectors and a CO2 detector. We've thought about ladders but haven't bought one. The bedroom windows all have porches not far under them so we'd likely just jump on to them.

[Snow mom]

The only thing we have in addition to those already listed is a big sledgehammer in our bedroom. Not all our windows open so my dad insisted we buy a sledgehammer in case we ever needed to get out a window (our house in one story.)

[twowhat?]

We need to get on the ball. We need to get fire extinguishers, safety ladders and a couple more CO detectors.

We are, however, just great in the home invasion department - we have a monitored alarm system and (even better) 2 big dogs who puff up to larger than their actual size and sound like killers when strangers come to the door. Our male dog even barked at (and scared the crap out of) me when I was trying to sneak back into our bedroom after spending the night on the couch because DH was snoring. So if I were a burgler...there are far easier houses down the street.

We are great in the pool safety department. Our pool has a safety fence around it, the yard is fenced (8 ft) and gate locked, and all doors leading from the interior of the house out to the backyard has a guardian lock on it. So for a child to get into the pool, they'd have to cross 2 physical barriers.

[Gena]

We have:

Fire extinguishers
Smoke detectors
CO detectors

We don't have escape ladders because currently all of our bedrooms are on the first floor. If we convert the attic to bedroom(s)' then we will get an escape ladder.

We recently installed double combination locks on our doors which need a combination to enter or exit.

We have window punch & seatbelt cutter keychains.

[AngelaS]

Smoke detectors
CO detector
Fire extinguisher in the kitchen
Big dog
Glock

[Meatball Mommie]

I'm with AngelaS :). Same list except small dog plus alarm system.

[maestramommy]

Fire extinguisher in the kitchen and basement
smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
home security (DIY)
ladder
dog

Nothing in the car, except a shovel in the winter

[marie]

For those in the market for a fire extinguisher for the kitchen, ATK rated them not too long ago. The winner was the "Kitchen" specific one by Kidde. You can watch the testing here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65I8PdPIJTw

It's incredible how some of the extinguishers made the situation worse.

As for our safety stuff, we have:
fire extinguisher in kitchen (wood stove is in the kitchen so it serves double duty.)
Hard-wired CO/smoke detectors
ladder (though this hadn't gotten unpacked from our move two years ago - thanks for the reminder!)

In the car, we have a life hammer/flashlight, extra windshield washer fluid, and snow brush. Now that winter has finally arrived, need to add a shovel and blankets.

I also try to make sure that the path from the bottom of the stairs to the doors are clear of toys, the vacuum, whatever every night. (maybe that's obvious but um, we can be a little messy around here :bag)

[AnnieW625]

We have a smoke detector in the hallway, and a CO detector in the kitchen. I soukd probably get another smoke detector for that side of the house though since that is where DD1's roo
is. We have a fire extinguisher in our garage. We also have an unloaded handgun on the top shelf of our closet. We have a one story house so no need for a ladder. We have a Mag Lite flashlight. DH has a safety kit in his car. We also both have jumper cables and an Auto club membership. We also have cell chargers in both of our cars so our phones are plugged in when we are driving so if we get stuck we have battery life to call for help.

We have a dog.

[Staraglimmer]

This may be a dumb question, but if we don't have natural gas (everything is electric) do we still need carbon monoxide detectors? We have 1, I was going to buy more, but is that necessary? Please excuse my ignorance, but I have never lived in an all electric house before and I was wondering if that makes a difference.


-Stephanie
Mommy to Hailey Michelle 4/08
& a new addition due 7/1/12

[lhafer]

We don't have a ladder because we live in a 1 story. We need to get CO detectors.

Otherwise we have:
- fire extinguisher for home and car
- monitored home alarm system
- smoke detectors
- 12 gauge pump action shot gun

[maestramommy]

This may be a dumb question, but if we don't have natural gas (everything is electric) do we still need carbon monoxide detectors? We have 1, I was going to buy more, but is that necessary? Please excuse my ignorance, but I have never lived in an all electric house before and I was wondering if that makes a difference.


-Stephanie
Mommy to Hailey Michelle 4/08
& a new addition due 7/1/12

We have oil and electric, but we have them because of our fireplaces. We really use them, so as a precautionary measure....

[KLD313]

Three dogs one of which is an Akita, a HUGE stun baton and I use bicycle locks tightly wrapped through the handles of my French doors and sliders. The bicycle locks are probably overkill but now I feel like if I don't use them something will happen. The house has an alarm system but it's currently not monitored.

[eh613c]

In addition to what you have (sans the ladder because we live in a one story house) we have:
-unloaded gun (DH and I go on a monthly basis to the shooting range and annual safety class)
-pepper spray (in the house and in the stroller)
-crank radio
-flashlights (DH owns a couple that are super bright that it can blind someone temporarily)
-CO monitors

We also have other stuff for emergencies (e.g. food, water, generator, etc).

[lovin2shop]

I also have fire extinguishers in my glove box and trunk. We recently had two local instances of people being killed in car fires and one of the moms here knew someone who lost a child in an horrific fire.

ETA: for home fire extinguishers, we keep one in the kitchen and one in each bedroom closet.

I've been thinking of getting fire extinguishers for our cars after a neighbor had a very, very close call with his one year old in a burning vehicle. My only concern is that it gets very hot here during the summer and the fire extinguishers that I've seen all say not to store in heat of over 120 degrees. I'm pretty certain that my trunk gets hotter than this, and I'm worried it could discharge?

[kara97210]

When we bought our new house earlier this year we had an amazing inspector who walked through everything we should have safety-wise so we have all the basics (smoke detectors for each bedroom+one on each floor, CO2 detectors on each floor, fire extinguishers in kitchen, garage, basement and attic and ladders in upper floor bedrooms). We also have a wall in the pantry that is all emergency supplies (first aid kit, flashlights, etc).

The only thing i haven't seen mentioned here is that we added steps within our window wells (we have a guest room and play/tv room in the basement) and these steps make it a lot easier to get out if anyone needed to escape through an egress window. Basement fires are evidently some of the most dangerous and can burn very quickly so we wanted to be sure we could get out easily if our access upstairs was blocked.

One thing our inspector said that stuck with me was that most people buy equipment and never practice their escape route. Obviously if you are trying to get out in a panic the consequences can be tragic. We have practiced our escape routes out of each bedroom (climbed ladders, etc) and made sure my mom (our main overnight house guest) knows how to open the window in her room and get out if there is an emergency. For me this is the best thing we've done to prepare.

[Simon]

We have combo Co2/smoke alarms in bedrooms and a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. We also replaced our windows so better locks there. That's about it.

I think the best thing I ever did was train in self-defense when I was younger for a period of 18mo+. I wish I could find someplace here to keep up and convince Dh to go too.

I believe our mental and physical preparedness will be better than any "tool" we might have in the home.

[Nyfeara]

Besides what everyone else has already mentioned, we installed the "Guardian Angel" window guards on the upstairs bedroom and bathroom windows. The back and side of the house don't have a porch roof or anything and we wanted to ensure that DS's couldn't be playing or put a stool near the window & tumble out. It also allows us to leave their windows open in the summer without worrying about crashing thru the screens, etc.

We have a basic 4' chain link fence around our yard and we have the gates locked at all times except when we're expecting the lawn or pest control contractors. It's a lot more obvious for someone to hop the fence than it is to walk thru the gate. We use combination locks on the gates and on the shed door in the backyard. At least they can't use anything in the shed to try and get into the house...

I think our biggest deterrent is the dogs though. They're 60 lb Australian Shepherds who are extremely vocal and protective of the house and yard.

[wellyes]

This may be a dumb question, but if we don't have natural gas (everything is electric) do we still need carbon monoxide detectors? We have 1, I was going to buy more, but is that necessary? Please excuse my ignorance, but I have never lived in an all electric house before and I was wondering if that makes a difference.


-Stephanie
Mommy to Hailey Michelle 4/08
& a new addition due 7/1/12

Even electric heat? I know CO detectors are needed in homes with oil heat.

[TxCat]

Multiple hard-wired smoke monitors (2 downstairs, 3 upstairs)
1 fire extinguisher (but we need to get at least two more, and one for each car)
Multiple Mag Lites
Crank radio/light
Monitored home alarm system
Two unloaded guns with bullets/clips in a separate location (but quickly accessible to DH and I) - hey, it's Texas.


Really need to act on the extra fire extinguishers and escape ladder.

[Jo..]

Two unloaded guns with bullets/clips in a separate location (but quickly accessible to DH and I) - hey, it's Texas.



My neighbors have several guns, and I figure if worse came to worse I could disable an attacker and run screaming to them.

They also JUST installed a tornado/storm shelter, and ordered an XL one so that BOTH our families (and our dogs) can fit inside. If that's not love, I don't know what is. :heartbeat: