Fire
Safety:
Every year thousands of Americans die in home fires and many thousands more are
injured. Children and the elderly are at a higher risk in home fires because
they are less able to escape when fire strikes. You can improve the chances that
your family will survive a home fire by making sure that they can escape quickly
if necessary.
Smoke
Alarms are Life Saver
Your primary line of defense in a fire is your Smoke Alarm (Detector).
Smoke alarms can warn you of danger, often before you can smell it.
The idea is to warn occupants early so they can escape the danger and
alert the Fire Department. The
sooner you know the earlier you can get out, the sooner we know the less damage
you have to your house.
How
many Smoke Alarms do you have in your house right now?
Have you taken the batteries out of some or all of them?
Did the alarm start chirping so you remove the battery thinking “I’ll
pick up a battery the next time I’m out?
Did you remove the battery because of cooking smoke coming from the
kitchen? When was the last time you
actually checked them? (There is a test button on the front.)
If
keys were designed to wear out with use, would you remove your front door locks
because you kept forgetting to get the key replaced?
If you would not get rid of your first line of defense against intruders,
why would you get rid of your first line of defense against a silent killer
“smoke”?
Planning
Your Escape
Now that your Smoke alarm has done its job, and your awake, can you get out?
Not everyone can wake up from a sound sleep to a blaring alarm and think
clearly right away. Practicing your
escape plan twice a year can help the whole family know what to do. Want to get back at the kids for all of those times they woke
you up early on your only Saturday off? Have
a middle of the night drill. You
can purchase a Smoke Alarm test kit that will safely active your alarm.
Activate the Alarm in the middle of the night and see what type of
response you family has. You might
be surprised how many people will actually ignore the Alarm.
Young children can often sleep through the Alarm.
From the time the Alarm sounds you could have as little as three minutes
to get out of the house before you and your entire family are overcome with
smoke and can no longer escape.
What
do you need in your pre-plan?
Keep it simple.
Make sure you have two ways out of each room.
If you’re upstairs do you have a ladder?
Practice crawling low, under the smoke.
Have a pre-arranged meeting place outside of your home.
(Meet outside before you go into a neighbors house so you know you have
everyone)
Call
the Fire Department from a neighbors house.
NEVER go back inside. (Where you
could breath 30 seconds ago can kill you now.)