Fire Safety: I Burned My Finger to Write This Post

Fires kill thousands of people in their homes each year -- more lives are lost to fire in a year in America than were taken by Hurricane Katrina or the 9/11 attacks. Some 2,000 of these deaths occur in homes without a working smoke detector, which is just stupid.
So one of the things that you should do when you buy a home is make sure that the smoke detector works. The traditional way to check this is to hit the "test" button, and listen for the satisfying beep-beep-beep.

The more wonky home-buyer brings a book of matches. But of course hubby and I -- who have been in the process of buying a new apartment -- forgot to bring matches to our walk-through yesterday.

The sellers helpfully handed us a piece of cardboard, which I lit on our new stove, but the cardboard was covered in some kind of weird wax that started melting. My attempt to save the kitchen counters from it resulted in a nice blister-y burn that I am sporting today. Makes typing hard.

Hubby, who has more horse sense than I do, finally got a good test by setting our walk-through list on fire. The happy ending is that we know the battery's in and the detector works. Does yours? Go test it right now. I'll wait.

Once you do have a working smoke detector, it's just a matter of keeping a fresh battery in it, which means you should change the battery twice a year when the clocks change for daylight savings time. (I'm just gonna trust you on that one.)

If you're new to home fire safety, don't forget these other tips:

• Buy a kitchen fire extinguisher -- if you've ever been frying anything and had one of those little grease fires, you know how quickly they flare. Water only makes it worse, and who can get to that little box of baking soda shoved in the back of the fridge behind the ketchup? Get a mini fire extinguisher and put it in the kitchen where you can get it. (Note to Realtors: this is a good closing gift.)
• Don't smoke in bed, ever. I would say, "don't smoke, ever," but I already haven't had much luck with Greg in my office. Plus, I know even the president says it's hard to quit. But at least you can smoke outside, or sitting up with an ashtray on the table. Do it for your kids -- one out of every three people killed in cigarette-started home fires is the child of a smoker.
• Be careful at Christmas. Water your tree, make sure your decorations are fire-resistant, make sure the wires on your lights aren't frayed, and for heaven's sake, watch those candles. You don't want a nice holiday time to turn into a tragedy.