Vision Impaired - Carey

When I was five years old the apartment, we’d been living in an apartment and it burned down. It was, you know, the middle of the night, so I had been asleep. I think I woke up…shortly before the smoke alarms had gone off. I remember hearing my Mom scream to my Dad, “There’s a fire get the kids!” I’d never heard my mom scream like that before. And, after she screamed,
my Dad, I remember him running into my room to get…me. To you know, grab me out of my bed, and my Mom ran into my brother’s room to get him.

He was only three.

I remember…we ran down the stairs of the apartment and out the door. And…I remember seeing the light of the fire.

I have a visual impairment. I was born prematurely, so my retinas detached, because of, you know, lack of oxygen. All I really have is light perception. So, what I saw of the fire was the light of it. It had reminded me of a camp fire, which was…you know, being only five years old, those were the only kinds of fires I had been exposed to.

And I also heard the crackling of it. So, to me…it was basically just like a camp fire.

Except that everyone was yelling and it wasn’t a camp fire, it was our house.

Having the fire in my house definitely, you know, changed my outlook on fire safety. Now that I’m in college and live on my own
I have to make sure something like that will never happen again.

Cooking fires are the leading cause of home fires across the nation. When I cook, I make sure to not wear any loose clothing
like a scarf or a sweater because it could catch on fire. I also know to never leave what I’m cooking. I don’t go into another room and I always stay with it. If there is a grease fire I know to neve rput water on a grease fire because it will expand and explode. I put a lid on it.

I always make sure I have fire safety equipment like a smoke or fire alarm and just to make sure it’s working, I test it. If you can live with a sprinkler, fire sprinklers put out fires, save lives and give you time to exit the building.

If there is a fire, I know how important it is to make sure I can get out of the building. So, no matter where I am, at school, at home, a movie theater or a restaurant, I always make sure I know two ways out in case one is being blocked by a bike or even a fire.

It’s important that I’m prepared for a fire emergency whether it be at home, at school, at work or anywhere else.

Remember, fire safety is a part of living.