With the weather continuing to cool down, Dallas County Emergency Management Agency Director AJ Seely provides tips when it comes to family preparedness.

Seely tells Raccoon Valley Radio that all smoke alarms should be properly working inside a home to safely alert you when there is an emergency. He stresses that it’s important to devise a family plan to take whenever the smoke alarms are activated. Seely discusses the method he takes with his family.

“I have young kids. My wife, we talk about that we’re going to leave the house, meet at a specific spot in the front or the back of our house, and we’re all going to wait there. So, we’re not looking for each other frantically if our house is potentially on fire.”

Seely pinpoints that people shouldn’t re-enter the house in order to save pets or material possessions. He concludes that families need to develop an escape route ahead of time to know exactly where to go.