10 Tips for Fire Safety

Smoke alarms save lives by warning you about a fire while there's time to escape. Install alarms on every floor of your home, including the basement, and outside each sleeping area - inside as well, if you sleep with the door closed - and test them once a month. Smoke alarms lose their sensitivity over time. Replace alarms 10 or more years old.

Consider installing an automatic home fire sprinkler system in your home. Sprinklers can contain and even extinguish a home fire in less time than it takes the fire department to arrive.

 If there's a fire, you'll have to get out fast, so be prepared. Draw a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room. Go over the plan with your household so that everyone knows how to escape if there's a fire, then physically walk through each escape route.

 Decide on an outside meeting place in front of your home where everyone will meet after they've escaped. Practice your escape plan by holding a fire drill twice a year.

Smoke and heat rise, so during a fire there's cleaner, cooler air near the floor. Always try another exit if you encounter smoke when you're escaping a fire. But if you have to escape through smoke, crawl on your hands and knees with your head 1 to 2 feet above the floor.

In North America, more fatal fires start from smoking than from any other cause. Don't smoke in bed or when you're drowsy. Give smokers large, deep, non-tip ashtrays, and soak butts and ashes before dumping them. If someone's been smoking in your home, check on and around furniture, including under cushions, for smoldering cigarettes.

Always stay with the stove when cooking, or turn off burners if you walk away. Wear clothes with snug - or rolled up - sleeves when you cook to avoid catching your clothes on fire. Turn pot handles inward where you can't bump them and children can't grab them, and enforce a "kid-free zone" 3 feet around your stove when you cook.

Keep matches and lighters away from children. Lock them up high and out of reach, and use only child-resistant lighters. Teach young children to tell you if they find matches or lighters; teach older children to bring matches and lighters to an adult before they fall into young hands.

Know the warning signs of problems for electrical appliances: flickering lights, smoke or odd smells, blowing fuses, tripping circuit breakers or frayed or cracked cords. Check carefully any appliances that display a warning sign, and repair or replace. Don't run extension cords across doorways or where they can be walked on or pinched by furniture.

Keep portable and other space heaters at least 3 feet away from anything that can burn - including you - and turn heaters off when you leave home or go to bed. Have chimneys and furnaces inspected by a professional at the start of each heating season.

If your clothes catch fire, stop - don't run. Drop gently to the ground, cover your face with your hands, and roll over and over or back and forth to smother the flames. Cool the burn with cool water for 10-15 minutes. Call for help.

Protecting the Past...Planning the Future