FIRE SAFETY EDUCATION
FIRE SAFETY TIPS:
9 essential home fire safety tipsNot all fires at home are preventable. That being said, it is always a good idea to follow fire safety rules and do your part to keep your home—and the homes around you—as safe as possible. Here are nine home fire safety tips that everyone should know and follow for both preventing fires and reacting if they do occur.
1) Install smoke alarms and regularly ensure that they’re workingA working smoke alarm can make all of the difference in thwarting fires and/or catching them at their earliest stages.
While cooking is the main culprit of house fires at home, you should have smoke alarms in all areas of your home—not just the kitchen. That includes alarms on all levels of your home and both inside and outside every bedroom.
If you just moved to a new home, go room-by-room and make sure that there are smoke alarms and they are functioning. And if you’ve lived in your home for a while, do regular checks to see whether the batteries need to be replaced (once a month checks are a good way to go). You may also want to consider putting in smart smoke alarms so that you can monitor them from anywhere right on your phone.
2) Keep an eye on your kitchenMost fires at home start in the kitchen, and there are three main causes behind them:
Food left unattended while cookingFlammable items left too close to heat sources (think rags, potholders, and alcohol)Failing to turn off appliances or unintentionally turning them onGrease fires are another potential risk factor here, including built-up grease from previous days of cooking.
Being aware when you are in your kitchen—and especially when you are cooking—will go a long way toward ensuring that these scenarios do not occur. As a general fire safety rule, never leave the room when you have something cooking, and always do a check when you’re finished to make sure that the oven, stove, and any other heating appliances are properly turned off.
3) Clear the lint out of your dryer after every loadOne of the easiest things you can do for better home fire safety is also one of the easiest: clear out the lint trap after every single load that you run through the dryer. Lint is surprisingly flammable, particularly when it accumulates in your dryer’s vent. By making it part of your laundry routine to remove all lint from the trap, you help prevent this build up from happening and greatly reduce the chance of a dryer fire occurring.
If you haven’t been keeping up with lint removal, or if you recently moved and aren’t sure whether the previous owners or tenants did their part, then you should open up the vent and give it a thorough cleaning. To do so, add a hose attachment to your vacuum cleaner and suction lint out from the vent, which is usually located at the back of your dryer. You’ll probably need to pull the dryer out from the wall a bit to do this, and you may need a screwdriver to remove the duct from the vent so you can get in there, but not always.
4) Clean out your guttersDry leaves and pine needles are both ignitable, so you don’t want either hanging out for long in your gutters. If you have a lot of trees near your home, aim to clean out your gutters every one to three months, depending on the season. If you don’t have many trees nearby, twice a year should suffice.
5) Don’t overload your outlets or circuit breakersSure you can pretty much add an endless supply of attachment plugs and extension cords to a single outlet, but that doesn’t mean that you should. The more that you overload an individual outlet or circuit breaker the bigger the fire hazard, so add in more outlets, instead of more attachments, if you have a lot of stuff you need to power up.
6) Be careful with heated blankets and space heatersBoth of these seemingly innocuous products can pose a danger if used incorrectly.
For heated blankets (also called electric blankets) only use them flat, since folds can trap heat and lead to fires. Likewise, never leave a heated blanket unattended, especially on a mattress or other bedding. And if you notice any wear or tear to either the blanket or the wiring, it’s time for a replacement.
In terms of space heaters, these are another product that you should never leave on and unattended. Be careful too not to let anything flammable sit close to the heater, maintaining at least three feet between the space heater and items that can heat up and spark or combust.
7) Keep fire extinguishers around your houseYou want to have at least one fire extinguisher per floor, though it can never hurt to have more. Put them in places that you’ll remember—such as under sinks or in a cabinet with your cleaning supplies. Make sure that you’re familiar with how to use them too, since you don’t want to be reading directions when you should be busy putting out flames.
8) Plan a fire escape routeFires can happen to even the most well-prepared of people, so you need to have an escape plan just in case. This includes an exact route to safety that you and each member of your household can take from any floor or room in the house.
Have a pet? Don’t forget to plan for them, too. Make sure that you have a leash and/or a carrier in an easy to remember, easy to reach location, and always include your pet when planning and practicing your escape route.
9) Prepare and protect your kidsEvery single member of your family needs to be considered in regards to home fire safety, and that includes your kids. Make a point of exposing your kids to the sound of the smoke alarm and letting them know what it means, what they need to do, and why it’s important to act fast.
In addition to including your kids when practicing your evacuation plan, you can also hold at-home fire drills every once in a while just like they do in schools. Teach them about “stop, drop, and roll,” as well as how to call 9-1-1 in case of emergency. This will include teaching them out how to dial 9-1-1 on your cell phone, in the event you don’t have a landline.
As always, keep any fire starters well away from curious little hands. Matches, lighters, and other igniters should be stored in high-up cabinets, even if you think your child is too young to know how to work them.
Don’t shy away from discussing fire safety in your home just because it can be a scary topic. The more prepared that all members of your household are, the better chance you have of reacting quickly and appropriately in the event of a fire—and avoiding a fire from starting in your home in the first place. This information is from Moving.Com
1) Install smoke alarms and regularly ensure that they’re workingA working smoke alarm can make all of the difference in thwarting fires and/or catching them at their earliest stages.
While cooking is the main culprit of house fires at home, you should have smoke alarms in all areas of your home—not just the kitchen. That includes alarms on all levels of your home and both inside and outside every bedroom.
If you just moved to a new home, go room-by-room and make sure that there are smoke alarms and they are functioning. And if you’ve lived in your home for a while, do regular checks to see whether the batteries need to be replaced (once a month checks are a good way to go). You may also want to consider putting in smart smoke alarms so that you can monitor them from anywhere right on your phone.
2) Keep an eye on your kitchenMost fires at home start in the kitchen, and there are three main causes behind them:
Food left unattended while cookingFlammable items left too close to heat sources (think rags, potholders, and alcohol)Failing to turn off appliances or unintentionally turning them onGrease fires are another potential risk factor here, including built-up grease from previous days of cooking.
Being aware when you are in your kitchen—and especially when you are cooking—will go a long way toward ensuring that these scenarios do not occur. As a general fire safety rule, never leave the room when you have something cooking, and always do a check when you’re finished to make sure that the oven, stove, and any other heating appliances are properly turned off.
3) Clear the lint out of your dryer after every loadOne of the easiest things you can do for better home fire safety is also one of the easiest: clear out the lint trap after every single load that you run through the dryer. Lint is surprisingly flammable, particularly when it accumulates in your dryer’s vent. By making it part of your laundry routine to remove all lint from the trap, you help prevent this build up from happening and greatly reduce the chance of a dryer fire occurring.
If you haven’t been keeping up with lint removal, or if you recently moved and aren’t sure whether the previous owners or tenants did their part, then you should open up the vent and give it a thorough cleaning. To do so, add a hose attachment to your vacuum cleaner and suction lint out from the vent, which is usually located at the back of your dryer. You’ll probably need to pull the dryer out from the wall a bit to do this, and you may need a screwdriver to remove the duct from the vent so you can get in there, but not always.
4) Clean out your guttersDry leaves and pine needles are both ignitable, so you don’t want either hanging out for long in your gutters. If you have a lot of trees near your home, aim to clean out your gutters every one to three months, depending on the season. If you don’t have many trees nearby, twice a year should suffice.
5) Don’t overload your outlets or circuit breakersSure you can pretty much add an endless supply of attachment plugs and extension cords to a single outlet, but that doesn’t mean that you should. The more that you overload an individual outlet or circuit breaker the bigger the fire hazard, so add in more outlets, instead of more attachments, if you have a lot of stuff you need to power up.
6) Be careful with heated blankets and space heatersBoth of these seemingly innocuous products can pose a danger if used incorrectly.
For heated blankets (also called electric blankets) only use them flat, since folds can trap heat and lead to fires. Likewise, never leave a heated blanket unattended, especially on a mattress or other bedding. And if you notice any wear or tear to either the blanket or the wiring, it’s time for a replacement.
In terms of space heaters, these are another product that you should never leave on and unattended. Be careful too not to let anything flammable sit close to the heater, maintaining at least three feet between the space heater and items that can heat up and spark or combust.
7) Keep fire extinguishers around your houseYou want to have at least one fire extinguisher per floor, though it can never hurt to have more. Put them in places that you’ll remember—such as under sinks or in a cabinet with your cleaning supplies. Make sure that you’re familiar with how to use them too, since you don’t want to be reading directions when you should be busy putting out flames.
8) Plan a fire escape routeFires can happen to even the most well-prepared of people, so you need to have an escape plan just in case. This includes an exact route to safety that you and each member of your household can take from any floor or room in the house.
Have a pet? Don’t forget to plan for them, too. Make sure that you have a leash and/or a carrier in an easy to remember, easy to reach location, and always include your pet when planning and practicing your escape route.
9) Prepare and protect your kidsEvery single member of your family needs to be considered in regards to home fire safety, and that includes your kids. Make a point of exposing your kids to the sound of the smoke alarm and letting them know what it means, what they need to do, and why it’s important to act fast.
In addition to including your kids when practicing your evacuation plan, you can also hold at-home fire drills every once in a while just like they do in schools. Teach them about “stop, drop, and roll,” as well as how to call 9-1-1 in case of emergency. This will include teaching them out how to dial 9-1-1 on your cell phone, in the event you don’t have a landline.
As always, keep any fire starters well away from curious little hands. Matches, lighters, and other igniters should be stored in high-up cabinets, even if you think your child is too young to know how to work them.
Don’t shy away from discussing fire safety in your home just because it can be a scary topic. The more prepared that all members of your household are, the better chance you have of reacting quickly and appropriately in the event of a fire—and avoiding a fire from starting in your home in the first place. This information is from Moving.Com
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