Home Fires
 

 

Are You Ready for a Fire?

Make your home fire-safe

       area and on each additional level
of your home.       Replace all batteries at least once a year. (It is recommended that you do this in October when you reset your clocks for daylight savings time - "Spring Ahead, Fall Back")
        Vacuum away cobwebs and dust from your smoke alarms monthly.
        Smoke alarms become less sensitive over time. Replace your smoke alarms every ten years.
        Consider having one or more working fire extinguishers in your home.
       

Escape safely

        Once you are out, stay out! Call the fire department from a neighbor’s home.  If you see smoke or fire in your first escape route, use your second way out. If you must exit through smoke, crawl low under the smoke to your exit. If you are escaping through a closed door, feel the door before opening it. If it is warm, use your second way out. If smoke, heat, or flames block your exit routes, stay in the room with the door closed. Signal for help using a bright-colored cloth at the window. If there is a telephone in the room, call the fire department and tell them where you are.

Plan your escape routes

        Determine at least two ways to escape from every room of your home.  Consider escape ladders for sleeping
areas on the second or third floor. Learn how to use them and store them near the window. Select a location outside your
home where everyone would meet after escaping. Practice your escape plan at least twice a year.

        Fire is one of the most common disasters. Fire causes more deaths than any other type of disaster. But fire doesn’t have to be deadly if you have early warning from a smoke detector and everyone in your family knows how to escape calmly. Please be serious about the responsibility of planning for and practicing what to do in case of a fire. Be prepared by
having various household members do each of the items on the checklist below. Then get together to discuss and finalize
your personal Fire Plan.

____ Install smoke alarms outside each sleeping area and on each additional level of your residence.

Keep new batteries on hand.