Two Fires in Two Weeks

In the past two weeks there have been two house fires in our neighborhood. Both homes were destroyed and yesterday morning one life was lost.
The first fire happened right around dinnertime about 2 weeks ago. I heard the fire sirens blowing and looked out my upstairs windows to see the above sight.

This is the same house just taken from the front side. The cause I heard was due to electrical problems.

The second fire happened yesterday morning. The whistle blew over at the firehouse and then moments later I heard the roar of police cars flying up my street. Again I went to my upstairs windows and found this.

Unfortunately the man that lived there was trapped inside his home and died. The news stations reported that the cause of this fire was also electrical. It was due to a frayed electrical cord on a tv.

Such sad happenings and even more sad to think that they may have been prevented. My dad is an electrician and so he has preached to us over the years on the fire dangers of leaving appliances plugged in, using extension cords and so forth. It's simply amazing at how quick something so small can cause so much damage and grief.
Here is yet another example.

This house used to sit right beside ours. It was a duplex that was home to two separate families. About 5 years ago I got a late night phone call from neighbors who told me to get the kids & get out of our house because the house next door to us was on fire.  
We grabbed the kids and animals and got out of the house as the fire department was coming up our street. Luckily for us our house was spared from any damage but the people that lived in that duplex lost everything.

The cause ~ an extension cord.

It's better to be safe than sorry.
~Keep a working smoke alarm on each level of your home.
~Change the batteries in the alarms each fall.
~Never leave small appliances plugged in when not in use.
~Never use an extension cord as a primary electric source.
~Never leave the house with a crock pot plugged in.
~and the list goes on.
There are many preventitive measures that you can use but these are just a few that we practice daily and came to my mind first. We also have an escape route planned as well as a place to meet once outside and the kids are told to GET OUT & STAY OUT! ~ NEVER GO BACK IN!
Heaven forbid we'd ever need to use that escape route but again I'd rather be safe than sorry ~ take precautions rather than regret that you didn't.