Are You Prepared?

“The best protection in any emergency is knowing what to do.”  ~ City of Ottawa Emergency Preparedness site

Last night we had a wicked, but short storm in Ottawa.  It blew in quickly during the dinner hour. Dark clouds and gusts of wind brought heavy rain.  As we cleared the dinner dishes and tidied the kitchen, lightning and thunder began. The type of storm that made me look for candles and flashlights…just in case.

A particular round of lightning cracked so loud our house shook.  It scared the dog, the cat and the kids. Shortly after we heard sirens and realized the fire trucks were heading down our street. I looked out the window and saw our neighbours flagging the trucks and running around in panic.  Flames and smoke were coming from the rooftop a few houses away.

Photo taken from our home

My husband ran out on the street to help. Luckily, my Mom was visiting so she stayed at the window with our daughter because I panicked and ran around looking for the pets in case we had to leave our home quickly.  In the time it took me to locate our cat in the basement the fire department was already working at containing the fire. There were fire trucks lining the entire street…we counted 8 but neighbours further up the street said there were more parked in front of their homes.

The good news is that everyone is safe. The local news reports that one of the fire fighters was treated at the scene but is fine now. Unfortunately, the damage is extensive and the three town homes in that row are in bad shape.  My heart breaks for them.

Our neighbourhood is a friendly bunch and I know the street will pull together to help them.  We just have to figure out how to go about that now.  We are also talking about all the emergency response workers that helped last night.  Seeing them in action was amazing and comforting. They quickly contained the fire and our street owes them so much.

This was a huge wake up call for us that left us shaken. In our home, we are now taking steps with the kids to plan for an emergency. Sure, we have talked about what we would do in an emergency but never practiced or even discussed it recently.

We need to plan for different scenarios and explain the priorities of evacuating quickly. We also need to stress that our safety is most important and that fire fighters and other emergency workers will help us find the cat or dog if they are hiding. The last thing I want our kids to do is what I did last night and run around searching for the cat. Talk about setting a bad example.

I realize from the large crowd of people gathered on our lawn, driveway and road that this could be very scary and disorienting for children.  We need to choose your meeting place wisely.  I found a helpful website from the Canadian Government with tips and topics to help make your emergency plan more effective.

Do you have an emergency plan?  If not, I encourage you to take the time today to talk with your family/friends and then test it out.   Please be prepared.