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My neighbors and I have this on-going group text about the NBC television show This Is Us. We all watch it and then discuss it usually with a plethora of cry face emoji’s and lengthened nooooo’s! We have also discussed how this show makes just about everyone on planet earth ugly cry with the exception of me. Seriously, I haven’t shed a tear since the first season when they lose one of their triplets and then adopt Randall. That episode had my cheeks tear streaked for sure! But since those first moments where we met the characters we have gotten into so much character development and we can clearly see how our past can directly impact our present! Perhaps the biggest heartache in the show to date is when Jack dies. If you haven’t watched the show, I promise I didn’t just spoil the ending or anything. Finding out that Jack (dad) dies happens quickly as the show swaps back and forth between present day and the early years of the family but if you read the next few lines, you will find out exactly how Jack dies…. so stop here! :)
*I’m including something meaningless in these next few lines because somewhere out there is one of those people who reads ahead and spoils endings for themselves and so let’s chat about our favorites to give those people an opportunity to do the right thing! ;) Besides Jack, who is an obvious choice, who is your favorite character? I adore Randall! I mean, his stint on SNL this week wasn’t anything to write home about but his performance playing Randall is amazing! I love how the writers have developed his character too! Leave your favorite character in the comments! Below you're going to see that Jack and I go way back. We've been friends forever. I call him Milo..but you can call him Jack...he is really digging playing the character. You will also see that I could *almost* pass for Mandy Moore if I were just a little bit better at photoshop. Back to your regular scheduled blog post!*
Ok, we're back! We know that Jack dies from complications after inhaling too much smoke when the family home burns down. It wasn’t the actual fire that took his life but later in the hospital he has a heart attack and dies in one of the most heart-breaking deaths on television. Am I the only one still thinking to myself: WHAT THE HECK JACK? I mean, it’s easy to say that Jack is a complete hero and sure, he kind of is as he runs back inside and gets his family pet. But while he is inside he takes the additional time to stop and get family photos and memories. This is where I have to post a full disclosure: if my house were burning to the ground you would absolutely see me running back in to grab photo albums. I actually keep my children’s “baby books” near the front door for easy access. Yes, I’m serious.
Rewinding about 9-10 years here. Jason, Joey and I were living in a row-style condo. One of our neighbors homes caught fire and the fire entered the interior wall. Within minutes of the fire starting our home was filled with smoke and our walls were hot. The fire department came to our door and told us it was time to get out of our house. They said that we had time to grab the 3 most important things and get out. I grabbed Joey and photos albums and my camera and ran for it. Minutes later Jason came walking out of the front door with our television set. Again…Yes, I’m serious.
Oh, Jack. What is it about these prized possessions that make us think that it’s a good idea to run into a burning building? Can you imagine if Jack had stayed with his family and mourned the loss of their dog instead of losing his own life? If this show has taught us anything it’s that the past has such a big impact on our present. The things that we carry into adulthood from our childhood become real pieces of who we are as adults! Jack broke one of the golden rules of fire safety! You never go back in! So maybe we all need a little recap on fire safety!
We had the chance to chat with local fire expert and Kill Devil Hills Fire Marshall, John Risoldi, who gave us some awesome info on fire safety. When we asked him what he hopes that everyone knows about fire safety within their homes he very clearly stated that people must have a fire safety plan and be prepared. We can take the time to recognize fire hazards and practice with our family, especially the kids! Fire Marshall Risoldi said that they ran 1,509 fire calls in 2017 from homes, structures, alarms, brush fires and a plethora of other emergencies. Of those calls only 3 to 5 are typically for fires inside a residence. This number sounds low unless your home is one of them! We can safe-guard our homes to the best of our ability by taking the time once a month to check our smoke alarms. Fire Marshall Risoldi also recommends changing the batteries in our alarms twice a year when you change your clocks back. Since we just completed the “Spring Forward" this past weekend, this is the perfect reminder to change out our batteries tonight!
Finally, I asked him what type of fire extinguisher he wants us to have in our home. We have always kept a standard fire extinguisher under our kitchen sink and assumed it would do the trick. We were wrong! The Kill Devil Hills Fire Department recommends a 2A 10BC Fire Extinguisher. Fire Marshall Risoldi said that while most homes have a 1A 10BC, it wouldn’t put out much fire. To replace our standard fire extinguisher, we have purchased the one below.
We had the cheap store-bought version and when we realized that it was *almost* expired we decided to do a little test to see exactly how it works. Head over to my Instagram stories to see the hilarious {and pathetic} test run we did with our old fire extinguisher! We have started drawing out our home’s floor plan for the kids so that we can show them how many options they have to get out of the house. We now keep an escape ladder in each of the bedrooms because our house is three stories tall.
We’re also going to do fire drills at least 4 times per year with the hypothetical fire being in a different part of the house each time. Within our new fire safety plan we are using the following tips from Fire Marshall Risoldi! Shout out to the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and Fire Marshall Risoldi for their dedication to keeping our Outer Banks locals and visitors safe!
We had another scare at our home just a few months after we moved in. We were so grateful for how quickly the Southern Shores and Kitty Hawk Fire Departments came to help us out! You can read that post here.