The preview of winter that hit us last week made for some interesting moments for those
of us who rely on someone
else to turn on the heat. We broke out blankets, opened ovens or boiled water as the temperatures dipped to near freezing. Since many of us are from warmer climates, even for those who have been here for decades, the plunge still takes some getting used to.

Old man winter’s RSVP gets our minds into gear about a
lot of things. The most withstanding is the thought of paying those outrageous heating bills that for now, are howling at us from the dark like hungry wolves that haven’t come into the light to feed yet.

Battling the blustery freeze beast, however, leads many to a path they do not imagine will lead them to tragedy. They will use electrical heating devices that are not safe. But worse they will not plan for their own escape in the event something goes terribly wrong.

I remember a time when Southeast Queens had the highest mortality rate for fires. That was due in part to reduced fire coverage, but a big factor was the lack of prevention and preparation on the part of residents. Most of the residences involved in fatalities did not have smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, or chain ladders from a second floor. If you would ask most of the survivors whether or not they had ever planned a fire drill with their family, they would tell you "no" they didn’t.

Looking back on my days growing up, I remember that I probably lived in the most dangerous part of the house. I was upstairs, with my window facing the driveway.

We were fortunate never to have been faced with the trauma of scrambling out into the dark and cold, through smoke and heat, just to stay alive. But I did at least have an idea of what to do.

My father drilled us a few times on getting out of the house and where to run after we were out, if a fire took place. We didn’t do it a lot but I played with the scenario in my mind from time to time, usually after other houses were burned. And after years of using electrical coil heaters he stopped using them in the house and he bought a few fire extinguishers for the house.

Since we never had to deal with actually having to use any of those precautionary measures, it is hard to say if it made a difference but we never even so much as had a scare of a fire.

A recent fire that took place in Brooklyn occurred in a home similar to those in our own neighborhoods. The blaze caught in a two story multi-family dwelling where two small children lived in the upstairs bedrooms. The brother and sister died there and their parents had no warning an inferno was stoking in their house until it was too late.

It may seem silly waking your family up in the middle of the night, only to drag them into the cold, simply to practice. You may want to spend your money on something else besides a smoke detector or batteries for the one you have at home that doesn’t work. You may think, "I know how to use" some of those unsafe electrical coil heaters better than the next person. Like anything else, you can decide what is the best course of action for yourself.

But since an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure and making some changes now won’t cost much time or money, it seems kind of silly not to do them.

I should add to the list of preventative measures, the purchase of renters insurance. Since many of us don’t live in dwelling that we own, the risk of being exposed to the neglect of others is a factor as well. You could survive the blaze but have nothing afterward, nowhere to go, and no money to get you through.