Teaching family members—especially young ones—how to safely handle small house fires can be the difference between keeping and losing your home.
One father says he quickly stopped a recent grill fire that could have easily spread to the house. He used a fire blanket which smothered the grease fire. Now he is advising viewers that having one in their homes could make a huge difference.
A TikTok from content creator and professional dad @dadchatshas has drawn more than 2.3 million views. In it, he says he purchased several Prepared Hero fire blankets after the brand gained attention on TikTok years ago.
Having those in his home helped prevent a grill fire from turning into a much bigger problem, he says.
“Last night, I don’t really know what happened, but the grill that we have on our deck outside just decided I don’t like you today,” he says in the video. “A combination of that and apparently a whole lot of grease in the bottom, and the thing just went up.”
He says it kept getting worse even after he turned the propane off. “I noticed that there were embers that were flying into our yard and close to the playground, which is wood, and the cushions from the couches,” he says.
@dadchats Scary moments last night but this thing saved my house
♬ original sound – dadchats
He says when the fire blankets went viral, viewers advised to put them in strategic places. For example, you should strap them to the underside of the grill, so you can quickly use it in an emergency.
“But I had had one of these—I’ll show you the packaging in a second—strapped to the bottom of the grill, because that’s what one of you on here said to do, like two years ago, so I did it, and now I’m passing it along,” he says.
What’s a fire blanket?
He then shows the blanket, which looks a bit burnt. “This one is the original. It’s the Prepared Hero,” he says. “I’m sure that there’s other knockoffs that are cheaper, but I don’t know if they work and that’s not something you want to find out at the point of use, whether or not it works, you know what I mean.”
Made from two layers of fiberglass and with a protective coating, the fire blanket works by depriving the source of the fire of oxygen, he says. This isolates fires with temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees.
Being a blanket, he says the tool is effective for empowering children to assist in an emergency.
“I have been the only one in my family to use it, obviously, but one of the things that they talk about is it is something even kids can learn to use, which is important to me because fire extinguishers are not the easiest things,” he says. “Teaching a child how to use one of those is very foreign to them, but teaching them how to throw a blanket over something. They’re used to that.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @dadchats and to Prepared Hero via email regarding the video.
Prepared Hero fire blankets are available for purchase both on the brand’s website, as well as on Amazon.
Are all fire safety blankets created equal?
Not every fire blanket advertised as a useful safety tool is guaranteed to be an effective means of putting out a fire. To be effective at snuffing out flames, fire blankets have to meet certain safety standards, such as:
- Being made of effective fire-resistant materials, such as fiberglass, wool, or Kevlar
- Being large enough to cover the fire, whether it is igniting on a person or a piece of machinery
You also need to use the correct application method. However, this is more about how someone uses it than its materials.
Viewers weigh in
Several viewers shared that they had already placed fire blankets in several areas of their home, in case of any emergency situations involving fire.
“My kids both have extra large fire blankets on the back of their bedroom doors because the blankets are big enough to wrap around them to escape the house if all other options are gone,” one commenter wrote.
“We have these in our horse barn,” another wrote. “Our worst fear is always fire and we have one for every single horse stall.”
“Daughter of a retired fire captain and I have one of those blankets on my wall right outside the kitchen,” one said. “They really are so important to have! And way easier than a fire extinguisher most of the time.”
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