Fire Safety
Home owners always seem to get confused when it comes to telling and knowing the difference between Fire Safety and Fire Prevention. Fire Safety is all in the hands of the home owners. Fire Prevention, however, is all up to the state and federal government. Fire safety is defined as “A group of equipment and behavior designed to reduce the risk of starting a fire and reduce the risk of injury in the even of a fire”. Many items can be involved in fire safety, such as escape plans, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and escape ladders.
I have people ask me all the time, how can I make my house fire proof? The truth is, is it almost impossible to make your house fully fire proof. BUT, you can make it safer.
One of the biggest things I tell people is to make sure you have smoke detectors in at least every room, and check the batteries once a month. Now, some people might find this excessive having one in every single room, but sometimes you can never be too careful.
A story I have from a call I was on involves not having enough smoke detectors. We were called out for a house fire in the middle of the night. The family was sleeping, and the fire started in the attic in the living room part of the house. Whenever a fire starts in the ceiling, it will most likely burn or melt the smoke detector on the ceiling. This is the need I stated to have multiple detectors in the house in case one is burned. They also are starting to manufacture smoke detectors that are attached to your wall, so it would have a less chance of getting burned. Because this family had only a couple of detectors and they got burned, the family was not awoken, and they died from smoke affixation.
Another useful item that can be used for fire safety is a fire safety ladder, (if you have a two story house). This ladder can be used to get out of a two story window so you can get to safety. Most families I talk to do not have this item. I highly recommend it if you have one in case your bedroom door gets jammed or you cannot get to the door.
Another helpful tool to have in the house would be a fire extinguisher. This way if your home does happen to catch on fire you can try to put it out yourself. Always call 911 even if you put the fire out yourself, and of course if you cannot put it out yourself, give up and get out of the house! NO ONE NEEDS TO BE A HERO.
