Family Has A Long-Standing "Fire Training" Xmas Tradition. This Lady Gets Caught Off Guard By It

Fire is a very interesting phenomenon if you think about it. On one hand, due to it, humanity was able to make huge progress in a variety of areas of life and even invent new ones. At the same time, fire can also destroy everything in its path within seconds. 

That’s exactly what happened to the family from today’s story – a fire destroyed everything they had. And while that was decades ago, they’re still traumatized by it and even managed to traumatize a woman one of them brought as his significant other.

More info: Reddit

Since we’re little, we’re taught that fire is dangerous, and those who’ve suffered from it can attest to that

Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)

Like this family, who lost their home in a fire two decades ago or this woman, who survived a house in childhood too

Image credits: faststocklv / Freepik (not the actual photo)

This traumatized them so much that even now, years later, they are still reeling from it

Image credits: teksomolika / Freepik (not the actual photo)

One day, one of them brought his girlfriend over, who was woken up in the night by total panic in the house

Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

She rushed outside, but faced a few injuries and embarrassing moments along the way

Image credits: throwrafiredrill

Then, when she made it out, she learned it was only their annual fire drill, which she had no clue about

22 years ago, the OP’s boyfriend’s family home burned down. This incident caused a big trauma for the whole family to the point where they keep bringing it up more often than you would expect. The post’s author herself is a victim of a house fire, so she gets her partner’s panic. 

So, this Christmas period, she was staying over at her boyfriend’s house. One night, she was woken up around 2 a.m. by alarms, dogs barking, and someone yelling “FIRE, FIRE!” She jumped out of bed, took her phone, and ran out crying. On her way, she picked up her BF’s little sister and went outside, where the boyfriend, his parents, and other family members were already standing. 

But I don’t think her escape was so smooth. While getting into her slippers out of bed, she accidentally knocked her head on a dresser. She also wet herself in panic while running. So, it was rather embarrassing for her. And it was only going to get worse from here. 

She noticed that the family outside, instead of being understandably panicked, was cheering and high-fiving. You get it – they were way too happy about a fire in their home. Turns out, it was not a real fire – it was just a drill. One they have each year, and they time it. This year, it only took a little over 2 minutes. 

Admittedly, such a time for a fire drill is quite impressive. Everyone knows that fire is fast, but the thing is that some don’t realize how fast it can be. You see, a small flame can turn into a major fire within 30 seconds. So, being quick in such a case is the most important thing. 

Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

And it’s not like house fires are a rare occurrence – they might be more common than you think. Here, out of all the fires that happened in the United States in 2023, about 25% of them were house fires, accounting for around 344,600 of them. That’s a huge number! 

So, fire drills can be useful when it comes to knowing what to do if, God forbid, something like that happens. How a family decides to implement it depends on them, but the general idea of making an escape plan, having an assembly point, taking headcount, and stuff like that stands. 

It’s also best if the people involved in a drill know about it, unlike the OP. After all, it’s a stressful situation, and to put someone in it without consent is straight-up jerk-ish behavior at least. So, it’s not surprising that after what the story’s protagonist had to live through, she didn’t hesitate to call her friend to get her out of there. 

As netizens said, soon he’d better not be her boyfriend but rather an ex. Do you agree with the netizens’ stance? Or would you forgive the boyfriend? Please share all your thoughts with us!

So, the original poster left, since she couldn’t spend time with the boyfriend’s family, and netizens argued that she should leave her boyfriend for good

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