Fire at home is definitely something that no one even wants to think of, yet alone to consider what they will do and how to act in case of such an emergency. However, accidents happen and when something bad like this happens, your main mission will be ensuring that everyone is in the house at the moment and you are ok and alive. Furthermore, there are certain steps and things you can definitely do in order to prevent fire accidents and protect your home. Preventing fire at home is not just important in order to avoid property damage, it is essential for your safety and well-being. In order to keep your family and your home safe and well, you can definitely consider a bit of a fire safety preparation that will definitely give you some peace of mind.
How to Prevent a Home Fire?
Home fires can, indeed, occur for a variety of reasons. Thankfully, most of the home fires are totally preventable and it is within your control and power to make sure you can prevent one in your home. According to the statistics, unattended cooking is the number one most common reason for a home fire. Following are other common reasons for a home fire including failure or other issues with your heating equipment, electrical malfunction, intentional fires and smoking materials. Thankfully, you don’t have to be concerned with such issues, because home fires are preventable in almost all cases and all you have to do is taking the necessary steps to reduce the risk of a home fire in your home.
Steps for Preventing a Home Fire
You can definitely prevent home fires by following a few simple steps and precautions including:
- Make sure to install quality smoke alarms at home and maintain them working at all times. It is recommended to have a smoke alarm installed not just in your kitchen but on every floor of your home and within every bedroom in the house. Unfortunately, it is assumed that almost half of the home fire deaths happen during the night when people are asleep.
- When you are cooking food, never leave it unattended. Especially if you are frying food or using a deep fryer as it can easily catch on fire due to the very high temperature.
- If it is possible, avoid using portable and fixed space heaters. Unfortunately, heating equipment is the second most common reason for home fire deaths.
- Make sure you have a fire plan in place. The fire plan should get you out of the house in two minutes or less. It is recommended to practice it and make sure you know the faster way out in case of a situation when you can panic.
- Avoid smoking in the house.
Basic Fire Safety Tips for Families and Kids
You may be prepared for a case of a home fire and you know how to act, however, it is important to make sure your family is prepared too and they understand the situations and know what to do, especially when it comes to the younger kids. If there are young children at your home, make sure they know that playing with matches, candles, and anything highly flammable is dangerous and it should be done only when kids are supervised by an adult. It will be even better if you are able to keep items like candles, matches, and lighters hidden from the kids. You should also make sure that your kids understand these basic fire safety rules:
- Make sure the kids know that if the doorknob is hot, they should not open the door.
- Make sure to explain to the children how they can “Stop, Drop, and Roll”
- Make sure the children understand that if they see smoke, they should crawl on their hands and knees.
- Make sure your children understand that in case of a home fire, they should not try to hide under the bed, in the wardrobe or anywhere else where they will be hard to access.
- You can also take the kids to the local fire house and let them speak to a firefighter. This way they will get the right answers to their questions by an experienced professional and they will learn how to tell someone is a firefighter and how they gear looks like.
