October is Fire Prevention Month!

10/10/2019 (Permalink)

Aftermath of Honolulu apartment complex showing fire damage due to negligence

As we enter the middle of October, it is important for everyone to be aware of what they can do to protect their home and family in a time of emergency. October is Fire Prevention Month!

The goal of fire prevention is to educate the public to take precautions to prevent potentially harmful fires and become educated about surviving them.

Below are a few tips and reminders:

Stop, drop and roll...

If one's clothing catches on fire, the most effective method of extinguishing the fire is to stop, drop to the ground, and roll back and forth to smother the flame. Running around will simply fan the flames.

Smoke detectors save lives!!!

• Working smoke detectors reduce the chances of death in a fire by half.
• Nearly 900 lives could be saved annually if every home had working smoke detectors.
• Even just one smoke detector reduces the chances of death by almost half.
• Nearly half of all fire survivors remember hearing their smoke alarm.
• Deaths due to fire have decreased by half since the invention of the smoke detector.
• Most deaths due to fire occur at night when people are sleeping.

Smoke detector maintenance!!!

• The most common cause of smoke detector failure is missing or disconnected batteries.
• Nuisance alarms are the most common reason for deliberately disconnecting batteries.
• Missing, disconnected, or dead batteries account for 73% of smoke detector failures.
• There are more homes with no working smoke detectors than there are homes without any smoke detectors at all. There are millions of homes in each category.
• Smoke detectors should be installed on every level of your home.
• Change your batteries twice a year.
• Clean your detectors also.
• Replace the entire unit every ten years.
• Disconnecting your batteries, for any reason, is dangerous and illegal.

Don't just leave to do something else...

One of the most common reasons for fires is how people often leave stoves, ovens, toasters, clothing irons, barbecues, and candles unattended.

Now, we've covered some important facts about fire safety for the home, don't forget about your business...

Oh, and DON'T forget about fire extinguishers!!

Fire extinguishers are active fire protection devices used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the user (i.e., no escape route, smoke, explosion hazard, etc.), or otherwise requires the expertise of a fire department.