What Your Family Needs To Know About Fire Safety

As a parent, it’s part of your responsibility to keep your family safe. In addition to reacting to dangerous situations, this responsibility includes anticipating trouble and keeping it from happening. Fire safety falls in this category, so here are some tips to help prevent fires in your home and help your family escape if a fire should occur.

Install Smoke Detectors

Ensure there is a smoke detector in each bedroom and in all the rooms where people gather. Enlist your children to help you test the detectors on the first day of each month, so they learn what the alarms sound like. Make it easy to change the batteries by storing plenty of fresh batteries nearby and keeping stepstools and ladders accessible.

Prevent Kitchen Fires 

Most fires occur in the kitchen, with unattended cooking named as the leading cause. Work with your family to establish some kitchen safety rules for your household: 

·         Remain in the kitchen while anything is cooking on the stove or in the oven.

·         Set a timer, so the cooking isn’t forgotten.

·         Throw food packaging away. Don’t leave paper on the counter, where it might come in contact with the stovetop.

·         Use potholders to hold hot pans, not dish towels or anything else that might touch a hot burner.

·         Don’t use water on a grease fire. Instead, smother the fire with the pan’s lid.

·         Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and make sure everyone knows how to use it. Learn the acronym PASS: Pull out the locking pin; Aim low, at the base of the fire; Squeeze the handle; Sweep from side to side until the fire is completely extinguished.

Avoid Space Heaters 

House fire can happen at any time of year, but they tend to occur more often during the fall and winter months, with heating equipment being the second-leading cause. If your home tends to get drafty in the winter, try to avoid using space heaters. These units can get knocked over or accidentally covered by blankets and drapes, potentially resulting in a fire. Instead, purchase electric blankets for each member of your family. Look for electric blankets that are equipped with timers and automatic shutoffs.

Teach Fire Escape Procedures 

·         Don’t rely solely on a fire extinguisher to put out a fire. As soon as a smoke detector alerts you to a fire, call 911, exit the building and don’t go back inside.

·         Decide on an outdoor meeting place for everyone. Arriving firefighters will ask you if anyone is missing and, presumably, still inside the house. You need to know the answer, so first responders don’t risk their lives unnecessarily. 

·         If any family members or pets remain inside, alert firefighters to where they might be and the best route to reach them. Unlike you and your children, firefighters are equipped and trained to enter burning buildings. They will do their best to save lives. 

·         Many children are deep sleepers, so don’t expect them to wake up during a fire, even to the piercing sound of a smoke alarm. Instead, it needs to be an adult’s responsibility to check the children’s bedrooms before escaping a fire. 

·         Children have also been known to panic and hide from fires in closets and under beds. That’s why it’s important to teach your kids what to expect during a fire and how to escape. Have at least two ways to exit your house and keep those routes clear of toys and shoes. Teach your kids to touch a door and check for heat before opening it. Make sure they know how to open locked windows and how to use fire escape ladders. Explain that smoke rises, and that’s why they’ll need to escape while being low to the ground. Practice these drills with the lights off because that’s likely what the conditions will be like during a fire. 

·         Your kids would be devastated if the family pets were to get lost outside during an emergency, so make sure the four-legged family members are microchipped and wearing collars with identification tags. Keep an extra leash near each exit. 

As a loving parent, you want to do your best to keep everyone in your household safe, and the best fire safety is fire prevention. Use these tips to create — and practice — your family’s fire prevention and evacuation plan today.

AUTHOR BIO: Benjamin Hadlock is Vice President of BlowHard Fans, an innovator in industrial fans for firefighters. For more than a decade, Hadlock has been a driving force in BlowHard Fans’ strategic journey in research and quantification of fan performance as part of product development. He has been instrumental in relationship building and information sharing within the industry.