Last year, a family of seven kids perished in a home fire in Pennsylvania. Without faulting the Clouse family and with deepest sympathy, it's important to ask: could this tragedy possibly have been prevented? What can we as parents take away from this terrible tragedy? The need for family emergency preparedness. And the holiday season is a time to be particularly aware of fire dangers: candles in Halloween pumpkins, decorative candles, holiday lights, flammable Christmas trees. More decorations mean more things to catch fire. I almost sent our mobile home up in smoke (and us with it) leaving a Christmas candle burning. Thankfully, we had a smoke alarm and charged fire extinguisher and my husband is a quick thinker. So check those fire extinguishers and smoke alarms. Here are more resources for parents to prepare their children for emergencies and prevent home fires. read more