Fire safety and preparedness in the home

Fires, unfortunately, occur in homes all the time. It’s important that we know what to do if a fire breaks out in our home, but it’s also essential to know how to prevent a fire from happening in the first place. Listed below are some tips to follow to ensure the fire safety and preparedness of you, your family, and your home.

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Fire Safety Tips

* Talk to your family about an escape plan if a fire were to ever break out in your home. Talk about where you’d escape from and where you’d meet everyone once you’re out.

* Ensure that all of your smoke alarms work. In over 60% of house fire deaths, the families did not have working smoke alarms.

Preparing For and Preventing a House Fire

•  Keep flammables away from anything that gets hot or could cause a spark.

• Never smoke in your home.

•  Ensure that your children know the dangers of a fire. Keep matches and lighters out of the reach of your children.

•  Do not leave candles unattended.

•  Make sure that you have smoke alarms on all levels of your home – better yet in every room.

•  Teach your children about what a smoke alarm does and what it sounds like. Know what to do when/if it were to ever go off.

• Test your smoke alarms once a month. If they don’t work, replace the batteries.

• Practice escaping from your home at least twice a year. Practice waking up to smoke alarms and practice your low crawl to help prevent smoke inhalation.

•  Make sure that everyone knows how to dial 911 and what to tell them. (Address, name, and what the emergency is)

•  Ensure that everyone knows what to do if they were to ever catch on fire. (Stop, drop, and roll)

• Have two ways out. If door handles are warm, do not open the door. This mean that there is a fire directly on the other side. Try your other escape route.

• If smoke, heat, or flames prevent you from escaping, place a wet towel underneath your door. This will prevent the fire from spreading into your room. Dial 911 and stay by a window. Signal for help from there too.

•  When escaping from your home, ensure that you’re being as quick as possible. Most times, you only have about two minutes to escape. Don’t stop for anything, items or even pets.

Cooking Safety

* Don’t leave the food you’re cooking on a stove unattended. If you do have to leave the kitchen, do not leave the food cooking. Turn off the stove until you come back and finish cooking.

Read all about what happens when you try to do that stunt right here.

* Keep all flammables away from the stove. This includes oven mitts, hand towels, clothing, and plastic.

* Keep your pets off of the stove and counters. This will help prevent anything from falling onto the burners and catching fire as well as your pet from getting hurt.

Fires are very scary and cause a lot of damage. Remember to stay calm and call for help. Know how to stay safe if a fire ever happens within your home. Everybody should know all of the fire safety tips and preparedness so that you have the best chance of survival. Practice preparedness!

When my children were younger we had a fire escape plan. We practiced drills and taught them how what to do in an emergency. I recently heard some teens talking how their families did this as well and it terrified them. So, remember teach but don’t scare!

Teach don’t scare!

Preparedness Preps

Mom with a prep teaches 10 pretend games to help your child develop preparedness skills

Learn how to make a fire escape plan, practice drills and print your own fire escape plan at Life after empty nest.