Home Fire Safety For First Time Home Buyers Part 12 of 12 A Checklist, if your a First Time Home Buyer or a Move up Home Buyer, fire safety sure should be a major concern to you, and your family.
The U.S. has one of the highest fire death rates in the industrialized world. Home fires sure can endup causen death and injury. Last year in the United States.
There were 3,320 folks that lost their lives as a result of fires.
There were 16,705 folks injured as the result of a fire.
There were 118 firefighters killed while on duty.
Fire killed more Americans than all natural disasters combined.
Eighty four percent of the deaths occurred in homes.
An estimated 1.5 million fires occurred in 2008.
Many fires are caused by misuse or poor maintenance of electrical devices, careless use of candles, smoking in bed and kids playing with matches and lighters.
Home Fire Safety For First Time Home Buyers Part 12 of 12 A Checklist, all areas of your home:
Its a good idea to cover unused electrical outlets.
Arrange electrical cords so that they don't dangle loosely or entagle with one another.
If your home has radiators, the covers should be made of a non-heat absorbent material.
Wood stoves and fireplaces should have screens to prevent sparks from reaching flammable materials.
Chimneys should be cleaned and inspected by a reputable professional every year.
There should be a smoke detector installed on every level of your home, in the hallways leading to the bedrooms. For an extra precaution, you should have them installed in every bedroom or sleeping areas.
Set the thermostat on water heaters between 130 to 135 degrees fahrenheit.
You sould formulate an escape plan for every room in your home, with an alternate plan in case the first escape route is blocked by fire. Be sure to practice these escapes until every member of your family can perfom them in their sleep.
Only use space heaters on non-combustible surfaces and least three feet from the furniture and walls.
Store all flammable and combustible products in a cool, well ventilated area and locked securely out of the reach of kids.
Your basement and garage:
Flammable liquids such as fuels should not be kept in your home.
Keep paints thinners and all other combustible chemicals out of the reach of kids. Ideally, these materials really should be kept in a locked metal cabinet, away from all heat sources.
Keep dirty rags in a metal can and dispose of them, by following the same disposal directions of the products they were used with.
When not in use, lawn mowers and all gas powered equipment should be stored empty.
Keep electrical outlets covered and do not leave anything plugged in, when not in use.
Store gasoline only in approved containers.
Home Fire Safety For First Time Home Buyers Part 12 of 12 A Checklist, your kitchen:
Turn pot handles in while using burners on your stove.
Store cleansers and other chemicals out of the reach of kids, preferably in a locked cabinst.
Make sure that kids are in a safe location when your cooking with hot liquids.
Keep cookies and all sweets away from your stove.
Make sure electrical cords are not hanging over the counters and appliances are unplugged when not in use.
Keep a fire extinguisher near the farthest exit from the stove.
Never use water to douse a flaming pot. Smother with a cove or a baking sheet, or use a fire extinguisher.
Your bedroom:
Keep your bedroom doors closed while sleeping.
The use of candles in a bedroom is the most common fire source of a residential fire.
Be prepared to exit a bedroom in case of a fire. If at all possible, have an alternative route than the bedroom door to exit a bedroom, like the window if required. Have a emergency window ladder in the bedroom, in an accessible location in any bedroom thats on a second or higher floor of your home.
Post 626 - 23 Nov. 2009
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Thank You Mighty Kindly for visiting my little ole Blogging homestead!
You're sure the most important person in the world to me! Come back often, and bring your family and friends! This here little ole blogging homestead was first started by me back in May 2007
(An important note to the general public: I have had for the time being set my blog posts where the public Non-Members of the ActiveRain community, are not able to leave comments on my blog posts. Our blogging community is under attack by many Spammers. I'm truly sorry to have to take this action!)
Please know understand that this action was also taken in order for your safety!
Please do keep visiting and reading my blog posts!
Thank you, for being understanding about this action that I've taken!
Have a good one
Dale in New Hampshire
Posted at: Localism.com/neighbor/bakerhome
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Dale, this is excellent information- this it the time of year for fires due to defective Christmas lights or the incorrect use of kerosene heaters. I'm going to reblog locally.
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving my friend!
Wow dale, I have not been at AR that much lately and see that I have missed a number of your very informative posts. There are only a couple of other inspectors here that write as well as you do on the subject of the myriad of inspection issues and this one is especially good because you've included links to your other posts. I think this one should be featured!
Dale this is certainly the time of the year but all year good safety should always be practiced. We have had a number of apartment fires in San Antonio lately and just last week a child was killed. Sure hope you get allot of new home owners and present home owners stop by to read this blog.
I agree with Russell, I hope one of the AR's will "feature" this one for you.
Howdy there Debbie, Russell, Carl and Ceil
Its always a pleasure to have y'all stop by to sit and visit for a bit, and to read and write a reply to the comments. Y'all leave on the blog posts, here at my little ole Blogging Homestead, my friends
Debbie - Thank you kindly! please be sure to stop by to look for the other 11 parts to this post.
Russell - Thank you for the kind words! to me, every time someone leaves a comment on one of my blog posts. Is the some as if ActiveRain had gave me one of them little gold stars.
Carl - your sure right that folks should practice safty all year round. One of the very worst things to hear, is when a child has lost their life in a fire. This blog 12 part blog series will be covering alot about home fire safety. As I told Russell in my reply to him, every comment that is left on one of my blog posts. Is the very same as geting a featured gold star from the AR gods.
Dale,
This is funny but I have inspected two fire stations and, honest to goodness, they probably had more safety hazards than any place I have ever inspected.
As the daughter of a firefighter I truly appreciate your post! Too many times safety is overlooked. Thank you.
Good morning Dale, Carl said you wrote a nice blog on Safety tips so thought I would stop by, he was right. These are some very good tip and folks should really print these out and share. I'm always concerned with candles, so many folks are trying to save on electricity these days. (Ceil)
Please don't forget about cleaning dryer vents also. There are 15,000+ dryer fires each year that may be prevented by cleaning out clogged or clogging dryer vents!
Janice Bittner, Dryer Vent Wizard
Dale: Such Great advice and especially the space heater advice about keeping it at least 3 feet from anything. I caught my boys using one in the garage while they played their games and accidentally left it on all night. Now I make them unplug it when the leave the garage.
Thanks for this great post - obviously a lot of time and expertise went ito this article. I went ahead and reblogged it for my readers.
Here is the intro I used for the post:
With the Christmas Holiday just over the horizon I see many are getting ready to start decorating their homes - both inside and out. Decorations these days involve lots of electricity. Decorating also means pulling out years worth of accumulated lights and decorations that may or may not be in the best of shape. Remember, it only takes one little mouse to eat thru a wire to cause havoc (does anyone understand the fascination mice have with electrical wires?)
So do us all a favor and take a good look at the information below...and please be careful...
Merry Christmas!
Always very good tips, but especially for this time of year with all the cooking, candles, fire places and Christmas trees.
Howdy there Steven, Leah, Ceil and Carl, Doug, Jane, John, Gene
Its a real pleasure to have each of y'all stop by to sit and visit for a spill, and to read each of your comments, and to write a reply back. on this Fire Safety blog post, here at my little ole Blogging Homestead, my firends
Steven - I sure can believe that. I have actual inspected homes that were owned by firemen, that did not have smoke alarms installed in the home.
Leah - Thank you kindly! your very right that folks overlook safety in their homes. Your welcome!
Ceil - Thank you mighty kindly, I hope folks will print this post, along with the other 11 parts of the series as I post them. Just posted part 11 a bit ago.
Doug - your very right, that folks should be sure to clean their dryer's vent. Thats for sure!
Jane - Thank you kindly, haven them unpluging the space heater. Is a real good thing to do.
John - Your welcome, and Thabk you mighty kindly for feeling it was worth reblogging it. I have visited your blog and left a Thank you comment on it.
Gene - Thank you kindly, folks should practice Fire Safety year around.
I hope each and everyone of you and your families have a fine and Happy Thanksgiving!
great tips Dale, this is worth printing and saving as well as passing on to others!
Nice list! Did you know that in the State of Washington, no one has ever died in a fire in any building that had sprinklers in it?
Great suggestions Dale. Thanks for the reminders.
Howdy there Vanessa, Jirius, Lyn
Its a pleasure to have y'all stop by to visit for a bit, and to read and write a reply to your comments. On this blog post, here at my little ole Blogging Homestead, my friends
Vanessa - Thank you kindly!
Jirius - Thank you kindly!, I have read that. The key word is, they had Sprinklers. Folks are starting to look in to using a sprinkler system in they home, in alot of areas.
Lyn - Thank you kindly!, and your welcome.
These tips are great! I will def. be subscribing!
Howdy there Trisha
I sure do appreciate you comen by to visit, and its a pleasure to read and write are reply back to the comment. You have been so kind to leave on this blog post, here at my little ole Blogging Homestead, one of my new friends
Thank you for subscriben to my little ole Blogging Homestead! and Thank you kindly for re-blogging my blog post. I stoped by your blog to pay a visit, and also subscribed to your blog. How are things a go-en there in Leavenworth?