A fire insurance rider for the really important stuff

I mentioned in passing a couple of weeks back that a house across the street from us burned to the ground.  I also mentioned that our family was very lazy up until that point in that we didn't have any escape plan whatsoever.  Nothing like a near miss to bring about a sense of urgency!  In our previous house it wasn't really much of an issue — as it was a rambler and we could get out of any window without a ladder — but the thought had crossed our minds several times in our new house (two stories and a basement), and we did nothing until fire was just around the corner, literally.

Planning for stuff like this falls off the radar when put up against all of the more immediate demands like school, work, eating, activities, etc.  When the fire hits, though, you're either prepared, or you're not.  It's that black-and-white simple.

A fire insurance policy can replace just about any stuff:  the house, the garage, the furniture and clothes, the dolls, the computers, even the kitchen sink.  It can't replace a mother, a father, or children. Nothing can.  That's why some of the most important fire insurance isn't insurance at all.  It's proper escape equipment, and knowing how to get to it and use it when it's needed.

Here's what we've done in our house:

• We researched and bought a multi-use escape ladder. We found that you do get what you pay for.  Some models of escape ladders go for $40 or so, and they will probably do the trick in a pinch, but they're usually single-use — that is, once you've used them to get your family out, you're not supposed to use them again.  But this prevents you from practicing with the ladder, which I'll talk about below.  The Werner ESC220 we got was only slightly more expensive ($119) and was designed to be used more than once.
• We installed it. The ladder is rated for 1200 pounds, but my father-in-law and I made sure to follow the directions.  We tested it before going down the ladder.  The instructions that came with the Werner ladder were clear.
• We each went down the ladder. This is by far the most important part!  My wife was the least scared of us.  She had no problems doing it.  My daughter was scared, but she did it.  I was absolutely terrified, but I got through it as well.  We had to. Doing this accomplished several important things:
  • The ladder gained our trust. Even though the ladder is rated for five times my weight, I didn't trust it, or my job installing it, until I got down to the bottom.  Far better to get it out of the way in a non-emergency situation.
  • I figured out how to get onto the ladder in the first place. The first couple of times I tried to get onto the ladder, I couldn't swing both my legs out.  We finally figured out that I could do it much more easily if I knelt on one of the nightstands and backed out that way.  Again, it's far better to figure out the mechanics of getting onto the ladder in a non-emergency situation.
  • We got past any fear of heights. This got my daughter a little bit, and it got me a lot more than I expected.  It reminds me a bit of what my high school biology teacher did when we were about to dissect a worm.  He said, “OK, everyone!  Worms up!”  We all picked up the worms with our bare hands, and got the grossness out of our system.  Getting on the ladder got some of the fear out of my system.
• We worked on a plan for a couple more escape routes. One extra escape route good, three extra escape routes better.

I hope that everyone who reads this is already prepared.  If not, I highly recommend you give yourself this gift, and I hope and pray that you never have to use it for real, but if you do need to, you'll be glad that you have it.