Red Cross shares home fire safety tips for Fire Prevention Week
Cooking and home heating are leading causes of home fires
– During Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 4-10, the American Red Cross is sharing steps residents can take to help prevent home fires and keep household members safe.
According to the Red Cross, people may have less than two minutes to escape a burning home. The organization recommends drawing up a household fire escape plan and practicing it twice a year. Everyone in the household should know two ways to escape from each room, and households should choose a meeting spot a safe distance from the home, such as a neighbor’s home or a landmark like a specific tree in the front yard. Once outside, residents should stay out and never go back inside for people, pets, or things. If a fire starts, residents should get out safely, then call 911. The Red Cross also suggests timing fire drills to see how long it takes everyone to get out.
Smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a fire nearly in half, according to the Red Cross. Alarms should be placed on each level of the home, including inside and outside bedrooms and sleeping areas. The Red Cross recommends testing alarms once a month, changing batteries at least once a year if the model requires it, and replacing alarms that are 10 years or older because the sensor becomes less sensitive over time. Children should be taught what smoke alarms sound like and what to do when they hear one.
Cooking is the leading cause of home fires in the U.S., according to the Red Cross. The organization advises never leaving cooking food unattended, turning off the stove when leaving the kitchen even briefly, and using a timer as a reminder that the stove or oven is on. Other tips include avoiding loose clothing or dangling sleeves while cooking, enforcing a three-foot “kid-free zone” around the stove, keeping items that can catch fire away from the stove top and oven, and keeping a fire extinguisher in the kitchen.
Home heating equipment is the second-leading cause of home fires. As people turn the heat back on, the Red Cross recommends never using a cooking range or oven to heat a home and never leaving a fireplace fire unattended. Embers should be extinguished before going to bed or leaving home, and a glass or metal fire screen should be used to keep embers in the fireplace.
For space heaters, the Red Cross advises keeping at least three feet of space around all heating equipment and never leaving heaters unattended. Space heaters should be placed on a level, hard, nonflammable surface such as a ceramic tile floor, away from rugs, carpets, bedding, and drapes, and children and pets should be kept away. Heater cords should be plugged directly into outlets, never an extension cord, and heaters should be turned off when leaving the room or going to sleep.
For more information, visit www.redcross.org.
