Prepared Hero and Scouting America team up on fire safety

Kitchen fires have a particular smell, and experienced firefighters like Christopher Judd can identify them the second they step out of the fire truck.

These are almost always one-truck jobs contained in the kitchen. In these cases, he radios the rest of the team.

“We have beans. Food on the stove!” Judd says to call off the other three emergency vehicles.

It’s a quick, funny moment in the middle of a crisis. What’s not funny, he says, is how unnecessarily destructive fires can be and how easily most of them can be stopped quickly if people stocked up on fire blankets like the ones offered by Prepared Hero.

“These are so effective, and they’re unbelievably easy,” says Judd, a retired Los Angeles firefighter and spokesperson for fire blanket manufacturer Prepared Hero. “Everybody needs to have these, and everybody needs to know how to use them.”

Scouting America agrees and has partnered with Prepared Hero to offer co-branded blankets. They are available for purchase on the Prepared Hero website.

Prepared Hero’s blankets use layers of woven fiberglass with a silicon coating, making them sturdy but lightweight. Judd has used hundreds of them in demonstrations and says they’re built for real-life situations.

A mom of two Scouts, Misty Rodems from Peoria, Arizona, found herself in such a moment when a grease fire broke out in their kitchen. One of her twin boys grabbed the home’s fire extinguisher while the other handed her the fire blanket. She covered the fire with the Prepared Hero blanket and watched the flames quickly disappear.

A few days later, she asked Prepared Hero if they offer a bulk discount so she can equip every home in Troop 546.

“Quick actions and the blanket saved our house,” she says. “We had almost no damage.”

Simplicity is what makes the fire blanket such a great tool for families, Judd says. Unlike heavy fire extinguishers that require training and strength, the Prepared Hero blanket is pulled from a pouch and placed over the flames. There aren’t levers to release or triggers to squeeze.

Also, fire blankets don’t cover the surrounding area with chemicals, and they don’t enter the HVAC system and spread extinguisher powder through the home.

However, Judd emphasizes that blankets don’t replace extinguishers. It’s another tool in the toolbox. Blankets can suppress stovetop and small fires instantly and are particularly effective for grease fires. Large or spreading fires still require an extinguisher or professional response. Every large, two-story home should have up to four extinguishers and four or more blankets, Judd says. The bigger the home, the more protection you need.

Two per floor is adequate, Judd says.

“Fire safety tools should be visible without having special knowledge of the room,” Judd says. “Even if stored discreetly, they must be easy to reach in seconds.”

By entering in a partnership with Scouting America, Judd hopes fewer of his colleagues pull up to somebody’s home and experience that smell of a fire on the stove. Having a fire blanket in the house just might eliminate the need for that 911 call.

“Scouts learn about safety at every level, and the Scouting America reach is so large,” he says. “By working together, we can really make a difference.”