Kids are well educated in fire safety these days.  They are taught as early as preschool to stop, drop and roll if on fire.  They know all about 9-1-1.  They practice fire plans and safe exits both out of their schools and homes.  Parents designate meeting spots in their yards in case they are separated in an emergency.  By the time they are in elementary school, they have the routine down and feel fully prepared.

But what happens if the alarm goes off in the middle of the night and your child is sound asleep?

No worries, the alarm will surely wake them.  Right?

Not always.  In fact, something happened last night that scared the heck out of me.

Our kids were sound asleep and safe in their beds.  I was doing yoga in my bedroom watching the CMAs.  (How cute was Taylor Swift?!  So.Damn.Cute.  I was so happy for her.)

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

In less than 2 seconds, Sarah jumped out of bed and came running to me, screaming her head off about getting out of the house.  Oh, yeah.  She's going to be a lot of fun living in a college dorm someday.

There was no obvious sign of fire and it was about 40 degrees outside, so I was in no hurry to get out of the house.  We've done this before, a couple of times, remember?  Jake began the search.  (Note to self: we totally need to get some of these.)

When he opened the door to the basement, he could smell smoke.  Crap.

I waited on the top of the stairs with Sarah attached to me.  We were right outside of Max's door.  He was sound asleep.  The alarm was going off in every room in the house.  It probably woke some of our neighbors.  My head wanted to explode it was so loud and annoying.  And Max was sleeping right through it.  Not even a stir.

When I realized there was actual smoke, I got a little nervous that we might have a problem.  I peeled Sarah off of me long enough to go pick Max up.  Nothing.  He was OUT COLD.  I got over my jealousy of dang, I wish I could sleep that soundly real quick when the thought of what if this was a real fire and he didn't wake up began haunting me.  I felt sick.

My husband found the source: our boiler.  Long story, but it had to do with user error.  *ahem*

I settled the kids back into bed and then did what any other social media addict concerned parent would...

I freaked out on Facebook.

My friend shared this YouTube video with me.  I felt sick to my stomach watching it, but it may just save someone's life.  In this case, my little sleeping beauty.  Now that I'm sharing with you, maybe yours.

The moral of the story is:

Don't wait until an emergency to find out if your kids wake to the traditional fire alarm.  Do a fire drill while they are sleeping.

I'm off to research those voice alarms from the video and will share my findings soon.