Every year the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) hosts Fire Prevention Week to raise awareness of fire safety and prevention in residential homes. This year with the theme, “Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety”.

We encourage our homeowners to freshen up on how to prevent fires in their own homes and if they have children, to teach them what to do in the event of a fire. Make this a family activity to map out a route as a family and devise a plan.

Prevention

One of the first steps to fire prevention is ensuring that you have the correct number of smoke alarms in your home. How many smoke alarms do you need? You should have a smoke alarm on every level of your home and in every living space (including the basement). You should also have a carbon monoxide alarm in the basement, in a central location on every level of the home, and outside of sleeping spaces.

Be sure to test your alarms monthly and replace the batteries twice a year. Newer alarms may use 10-year lithium batteries, reducing the replacement of the batteries to every 10 years. An easy way to track the status of your alarms is to keep a chart noting where your alarms are located, when they’ve been tested, when the batteries have been replaced, and when the next round of maintenance on them is due.

Prevention Tip: Teach your family what a smoke alarm sounds like and how to react to it.

An important safety tool in any home is a fire extinguisher. Fire extinguishers should be located on every floor of the home, in a spot that is readily accessible in the event of a fire.

Escape Plan

Home evacuation drills should be practiced twice a year. Before you begin your drill, use our Fire Escape Map to draw out an evacuation route and meeting spot for everyone to follow. Go over the Fire Escape Map to ensure that everyone knows the two routes of how to escape and where the meeting spot outside of the home is.

According to the Red Cross, if a fire has started in your home, you may have as little as two minutes (120 seconds) to evacuate.

Things to practice during evacuation drills:

Always time your fire drills and remember: DO NOT go back into the house after you have escaped.

Include an Emergency Communication Plan in your drills. Make a list of whom to contact in the event of a fire and be sure your family knows when the communication plan is to be used during an escape.  

Fire-safe Habits

According to the Pennsylvania Office of the State Fire Commissioner,  children cause 100,000 residential fires annually. If you have children in your household, it is important to teach them that fire is a tool, not a toy. Heat and flames are a natural part of many aspects of our lives, that’s why developing fire-safe habits is the best way to reduce the risk of fire in your home.

Reducing Risks

According to the NFPA, heating equipment causes 48,530 fires a year and electrical malfunction causes 44,880 fires a year. These are some ways you can reduce risks:

Staying Fire-safe while cooking

Cooking causes 50% of residential fires annually, with unattended cooking being the leading cause. These are some ways that you can reduce your risk while cooking: