Oh sure, we have to worry about that empty, heated home that is getting low on fuel and the seller who is struggling with two places but does not want to chance it renting the empty one a bad renter. But how many homes that are on fire at 2 am are you out battling blazes in a cold weather Northern state with windchills added to the 20 below temperatures? That seems to be when the fires happen...with over worked furnaces that are on their last legs in a rickety, neglected apartment house or from faulty antiquated wiring and a zillion electric heaters plugged in unattended. That's what I worry about this time of year. I am glad there are fire fighters that want to get up in the middle of the night, on call 24/7/365 with water dripping and freezing down their sleeves, heaving equipment into place, racing to get that ladder up to the window where there is a "totfinder" orange faded circle on the glass...worrying if you are in danger and going to save whoever is inside in time . And neighbors seeing the revolving red lights bouncing off their inside walls eerily, hearing the sirens, seeing the smoke, wondering what if it was my place on fire? What you would watch burn that was valuable but nothing more precious than life itself. Loosing a pet, family heirlooms. Insurance claims, loss of use of your home, getting all new clothes. But hopefully not losing a loved one or a neighbor and watching helplessly not being able to go inside and held back. Pictures being replaced, stuff just being stuff when you get down to it.
I remember a fire on Court Street here in Houlton where the little five year old boy was playing with matches, hid in the closet and died in the fire. I remember another blaze further up the street where a husband lost his two young kids and his wife in a fire. He still has nightmares and can not sleep on the second floor of a home. Check your furnace, wiring and do a quick but thorough tour of any rental property you own to make sure there is not 
something that could lead to a fire in the middle of the night or anytime this winter as the temperature plunges. Maine reported a record 11 fire deaths last year which is way down. The all time low was a dozen people lost in fires back in 1995. Progress is being made thru education and tougher insurance regulations. Maine fire departments are actively getting into the state's schools early on to discuss fire exits, placement of chain ladders under beds that get tossed out a window to lower a household member to a porch and then to safety. Where to meet outside, and having mock drills in practice rooms brought to the school and filled with smoke to simulate without terrifying the little ones. Tonight the National Weather Service has a chill advisory for most of Maine's 16 counties. How are those batteries in your smoke detectors where you live? Here is a site with a quick rundown of tips for fire prevention and what to do if you find yourself involved in a fire which none of us ever expects or thinks about until you pass a charred home frame and wonder what happened there with the yellow don't cross tape and boarded up windows! Any Active Rain volunteer fire fighters in the readership ranks?
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