How to Practice Fire Safety

Check your electrical appliances, cords and outlets. Ensure the electrical appliances in good condition, without loose or frayed cords or plugs. Avoid overloading plugs and check light fixtures in your home and use bulbs that are the correct wattage.

• Check that your home contains GFCIs (ground fault circuit interrupters) or AFCI's (Arc fault circuit interrupters), which prevent electrical shock and fire by shutting off faulty circuits.
• Be careful about do-it-yourself electrical projects. Studies have shown that many home fires are caused by improper installation of electrical devices. Get appliances that spark, smell unusual, or overheat fixed.

Learn from the mistakes of others. Fires can destroy your most cherished personal items, your home and serious injury or death. Here are the top causes of fires:

• The kitchen is the most dangerous room for fires. Cooking is the major cause for fires. The fires mainly occur in the evening between 5 and 7 pm.
• Faulty or damaged electrical wires can start dangerous fires.
• Incorrect use of portable heaters or appliances pose a fire threat, especially during winter mornings and evenings.
• Unsupervised children playing with matches and lights can hurt themselves and others.
• Discarded smoking material igniting fires at home.
• Fires can occur when candles and incense burners are left unattended.

Have common sense. Each room has different dangers. Teach your kids about dangers too. Remember to take extra care during the winter months when house fires are more prone.

• General:
  • Install electrical safety switches.
  • Avoid overloading power points.
  • Switch off appliances not in use.
  • Check electric equipment for frayed cords.
  • Keep matches and lighters away from children.
  • Ensure central heating and air-conditioning units are checked by a qualified person annually.
  • Install smoke alarms and check them regularly.
  • Check that windows and security grilles open for an essay exit.
  • Keep all paths clear.
• Entrance:
  • Keep all keys in internal locks.
  • Get fireproof doors.
  • Handles may be hot in a fire.
• Living room:
  • Place a screen in front of open fires.
  • Clean your chimney or flue once a year.
  • Keep portal heaters away from curtains.
  • Ensure electrical equipment has sufficient air circulation to avoid the build up of heat.
  • Never leave naked flames unattended.
• Kitchen:
  • Write an escape plan and put it in a central location.
  • Never leave cooking unintended.
  • Keep a fire blanket near the exit.
  • Wear clothing with fitted sleeves when cooking.
  • Avoid using sprays or liquid cleaners near hot surfaces as they can be highly flammable.
• Bedrooms;
  • Don't run electrical wires under rugs.
  • Ensure lamps and night-lights are not touching bedspreads, drapes, or other fabrics.
  • Check electric blankets before putting them on the bed.
  • Use caution when using electric blankets.
• Garage:
  • Store flammable liquids safely.
  • Don't let kids use appliances by themselves and supervise any art or science projects that involve electrical devices.
  • Cover any outlets that are not in use with plastic safety covers if you have toddlers or young children in your home.
  • Clean your gutters regularly.

Be careful with portable heaters. Portable space heaters substantially contribute to the increase of house fires during winter. Before plugging in your space heater, make sure you know how to use it safely:

• Carefully read the directions for its use.
• Never place a space heater where a child or pet could accidentally knock it over.
• Never place a space heater too close to a bed, especially a child's bed.
• Keep newspapers, magazines, and fabrics from curtains, clothes, or bedding away from space heaters, radiators, and fireplaces.
• Heaters should be at least 3 feet from anything flammable.

Stay safe in the kitchen. Cooking the leading cause of house fires. Fires can start when food is left unsupervised on a stove or in an oven or microwave, grease spills, a dish towel too close to the burner, a toaster or toaster oven flare-up or a coffee pot accidentally left on.

• Always supervise kids while cooking and practice safe cooking habits such as turning all pot handles in so they can't be accidentally knocked over and not wearing loose-fitting clothing that could catch fire around the stove.

Make your fireplace safe. Keep your fireplace clean and covered with a screen to keep sparks from jumping out. Only wood should be burned in the fireplace because paper and other materials can escape while burning and ignite nearby items. Never leave a fire burning unattended and make sure a fire is completely extinguished before leaving the house or going to bed. Have the chimney professionally cleaned once a year.

Keep your kids safe from matches. Playing with matches is still the leading cause of fire-related deaths and injuries for kids younger than five years. Always keep matches and lighters out of children's reach. Store flammable materials such as gasoline, kerosene, and cleaning supplies outside of your home and away from kids.

Use candles safely. As decorative candles become more popular, candle fires are on the rise. If you light candles, keep them out of reach of kids and pets, away from curtains and furniture, and extinguish them before you go to bed. Make sure candles are in sturdy holders made of non-flammable material that won't tip over. Don't let your children no use candles unsupervised in their rooms.

Be careful of holiday dangers. Around the holidays, there are even more potential fire hazards to think about. If you use a real Christmas tree in your home, make sure to water it daily and do not tie electric lights strung on a dried-out tree.

• All lights and lighted window ornaments should be inspected every year to make sure that cords are not worn or frayed, and all candles should be used with care. The number of fires started by candles nearly doubles during the month of December.

Ensure you have an adequate smoke alarm system. Having a smoke alarm in the house cuts your risk of dying in a fire in half. Almost 60% of all fatal residential fires occur in homes that don't have smoke alarms, so this may be the single most important thing you can do to keep your family safe from fires.

• If your home doesn't have smoke alarms, now is the time to install them on every level of your home and in each bedroom. If possible, choose one with a 10-year lithium battery. If your smoke alarm uses regular batteries, remember to replace them every year (hint: change your batteries when you change your clock back from Daylight Saving Time in the fall). Test your smoke alarms monthly, and be sure your kids are familiar with the sound of the alarm.
• Because smoke rises, smoke detectors should always be placed on ceilings or high on walls. If a smoke detector near the kitchen goes off while you're cooking, do not take the battery out of it—you may forget to replace it. Open the doors and windows instead. Or you might consider installing a rate-of-rise heat detector for places like the kitchen, where smoke or steam from cooking are likely to cause false alarms. These alarms can sense when the temperature reaches a set critical point or when it rises by more than a certain number of degrees a minute.
• If you're having a new home built or remodeling an older home, you may want to consider adding a home sprinkler system. These are already found in many apartment buildings and dormitories. Carbon monoxide alarms also can be lifesaving.

Have fire extinguishers around the house. Be prepared for any accidents by having fire extinguishers strategically placed around your house—at least one on each floor and in the kitchen (this one should be an all-purpose extinguisher, meaning it can be used on grease and electrical fires), the basement, the garage, or workshop area. Keep them out of reach of children. Fire extinguishers are best used when a fire is contained in a small area, like a wastebasket, and when the fire department has already been called. The best time to learn how to use the fire extinguisher is now, before you ever need it (if you have any questions, the local fire department can help). Fire extinguishers have gauges on them indicating when they need to be replaced and should be checked regularly to make sure they're still functional. If you're ever in doubt about whether to use an extinguisher on a fire, don't try it. Instead, leave the house immediately and call the fire department. The NFPA says to remember the acronym PASS when operating an extinguisher:

• Pull the pin. Release the lock with the nozzle pointing away from you.
• Aim low. Point the extinguisher at the base of the fire.
• Squeeze the lever slowly and evenly.
• Sweep the nozzle from side to side.