CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – In the early morning hours of Aug. 23, Chelsea Flake woke up and heard popping sounds.
“I heard my husband yell ‘Fire!’ and everyone got out of bed and went to see the flames on the back porch,” Flake said.
Their home on Smith Place Road in Cunningham was on fire.
Mother’s training saves lives
As the couple contemplated what to do next, their oldest son, Jace, followed family protocol and gathered his five brothers. He took them to a pear tree that wasn’t too far away but out of the reach of danger.
“They went to the pear tree while my husband and I gathered what we could,” Flake said.
For quite some time, Flake had been training her children on what to do in the event of a fire. She said as she looked back on the training she gave her children, she was glad she had done the fire drills.
“We have done fire drills since (they) were 6 years old,” she said. “We went through every emergency, like, ‘What if Mommy falls down and is not responsive, what would you do?’ and all sorts of things like that,” she said.
While their lives were saved, Flake said the house was a total loss, and the family is still handling the recovery process with insurance.
Despite the loss of their home, Flake said it was a blessing that her boys knew what to do to get to safety.
Plan for fires, plan your escape
The Flake’s experience illustrates the theme of this year’s Fire and Safety Prevention Week, “Fire Won’t Wait, Find Your Escape.”
“Once you get out, stay out, and don’t go back in for pets or toys,” Clarksville Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Michael Rios said.
Last year there were 120 house fires in Clarksville. “We had 15,000 calls last year,” he said.
Rios said he encourages families to do just as the Flake family did in preparing children for emergencies.
Another key element to safety is having professionally installed working smoke alarms. “We will come out and install them for free,” Rios said, noting that if a household does not have smoke alarms, free ones will be provided.
Rios said one of the most important lessons to teach children is not to play with matches.
Rios said he wanted to stress families need to continue to practice fire safety drills. “Fire is not what causes death, it is the smoke inhalation,” he said. “In most cases you have less than two minutes to get out of the home.”