Info about Fire Safety
Prevent a Fire in Your Home
The National Fire Protection Association reports that about eighty percent of all fires happen in homes. Someone in the United States dies from a fire approximately every 134 minutes. Someone in Canada is fatally injured every 31 hours in a home fire. About 17% of the deaths from fires were made up of children under five. These statistics are quite overwhelming and reiterate why we should take precautions to prevent a fire.
Smoke is the cause of 75% of the deaths caused by a fire. Your home should have a smoke detector on every level and it should be placed near areas where someone might be sleeping. It is important to test your smoke detector once a month to be sure that it is working properly. You should keep the smoke detector free of dust and change the batteries once a year. Your smoke detector could be your first warning of a fire.
If have a fireplace, you must take precautions with it to be safe. A fireplace screen should be used at all time so that sparks can fly out and start a fire. Matches, kindling, and newspapers should be stored away from the fireplace, and there should not be an exposed wood floor or rug right in front of the fireplace. Before every winter starts, have a professional clean your chimney. A chimney cap should be installed to prevent roof fires.
Another fire hazard can be space heaters. They can be the more dangerous than any other appliance in your house if they are not used correctly. All furnaces should be inspected by a professional before it is used every year. Do not store any flammable objects near the heater, furnace or hot water heater. Anything that will burn should be at least three feet away from the heater. This includes the wall. Electrical heaters should not be plugged into extension cords. They require a lot of current that can cause the cord to melt and start a fire.
Sometimes a lot of heat can build up in a clothes dryer and cause a fire. You should never leave your dryer running when you leave your house. They must always be vented to the outside because it is not safe to vent them into a wall or attic. The lint screen should be cleaned after each load of clothes so that the airway is kept clear. Synthetic fabrics, foam, rubber or plastic should never be put into the dryer because they hold lots of heat and can easily catch on fire.
All of these are good precautions to prevent a home fire. Paying close attention to them could save your home or business. Be sure when dealing with fire that you are always cautious and be prepared with a fire extinguisher in case of an emergency. Make sure you have made everyone in your house aware of a safe exit plan and practice it especially with small children. The family should have one place to meet if a fire ever happens so that you know everyone is out. Hopefully, by using fire safety rules you will be able to prevent all fires, but it is best to be prepared.