Home Fire Safety

1. Home Fire Safety Winter 2012 Safety Campaign

2. Kitchen Fires -- Data • Three in ten home fires start in the kitchen, more than any other room in the house. • In one year, there were an estimated 156,500 kitchen fires, which killed 331 people, injured nearly 5,000 others, and damaged $876 million worth of property. • Cooking causes nearly 90% of all kitchen fires. The primary factor is unattended cooking.

3. Kitchen Fires – Do’s and Don’ts • Don’t leave food that is cooking on the stovetop unattended, especially pans of hot grease when frying food. Grease fires can travel to curtains and cabinets, quickly producing a major fire. • When frying or heating oil, make sure the pot or pan has a lid that the lid is handy. Cover a burning or overheated pan with a lid. • Make sure the pilot lights always work. • Clean up grease.

4. Kitchen Fires – Do’s and Don’ts • Regularly clean or replace vent screens. • If you have an electric stove, warn children that it stays hot after it has been turned off. • Never leave a child alone when cooking or when an electrical appliance is within reach. • Keep flammable objects (kitchen towels, cookbooks and curtains) at least three feet from the stove top.

5. Fire Extinguishers • Use portable fire extinguishers for putting out small fires or containing them until firefighters arrive. • For your home, buy a multi-purpose extinguisher, which you can use on all types of home fires. • Read the instructions and get familiar with the parts and how to use it.

6. Fire Extinguishers -- Do’s and Don’ts • Keep fire extinguishers close to an exit. • Keep your back to an unblocked exit when using your extinguisher on a fire. You want to be able to escape easily if things get out of hand. • If smoke fills the room, leave immediately.

7. Fire Extinguishers -- Do’s and Don’ts These conditions should exist before you use your fire extinguisher: • The fire is confined to a small area and isn't spreading. • Everyone else has left the house or building. • Someone has called the fire department. • The room isn't filled with smoke.

8. Fire Extinguishers -- Do’s and Don’ts To use a fire extinguisher, rememberP-A-S-S: • Pull the pin. Hold the extinguisher with the nozzle pointing away from you, and release the locking mechanism. • Aim low. Point the extinguisher at the base of the fire. • Squeeze the lever slowly and evenly. • Sweep the nozzle from side-to-side.

9. Fireplaces -- Data • More than one in three Americans use fireplaces, wood stoves and other fuel-burning appliances as the primary way to heat their homes. • Heating fires account for 36% of residential home fires in rural areas every year. Often these fires are due to creosote buildup in chimneys and stovepipes.

10. Fireplaces -- Do’s and Don’ts • Don't use gasoline to start a fire. Use paper, kindling and dry wood. • Use a screen to keep sparks from popping out of the fire. • Make sure that floor coverings and furniture are far enough away from the fireplace. • Make sure your flue is clean and open, and that your damper works. Open the damper before starting a fire.

11. Fireplaces -- Do’s and Don’ts • Make sure the fire is out before you leave it alone or go to bed. • Dispose of ashes in a metal bucket or other metal container. Make sure they are cool. • Don't use water to extinguish a fire. It can crack the bricks in your hearth. Let the fire burn itself out. • When burning artificial logs, burn one at a time. They produce too much concentrated heat for some fireplaces.

12. Candles -- Data • Candle fires occur most often in bedrooms (45%), followed by family rooms (18%) and bathrooms (11%).  • 16% of candle fires were caused by unattended candles. • Candles cause an estimated 15,600 fires in residences, 150 deaths, 1,270 injuries, and $539 million in estimated direct property damage each year.

13. Candles -- Do’s and Don’ts • Don’t leave a burning candle unattended. When you leave a room or go to bed, put out all candles. • Don't put candles near things that burn: books, newspaper, tablecloths, clothing, wall hangings, pictures, curtains. • Candle holders must be hard to tip over, made from a material that won't burn, and should be able to catch melted wax.

14. Candles -- Do’s and Don’ts • Make sure that kids and pets can't get near candles. • If the wick gets too long, it can produce a dangerously large flame. Trim wicks to ¼" prior to each use. • Keep candles, matches and lighters in a high cabinet that children can't see or reach. • When the power goes out, you can light candles but don't carry them around.

15. r Smoke Alarms -- Data • An estimated 890 lives could be saved each year if all homes had working smoke alarms. • Sixty-five percent of home-fire deaths in a recent 5-year period were in homes that didn’t have smoke alarms or where the smoke alarms didn’t work. • In about thirty percent of the fires in homes that have smoke alarms, the devices did not work--usually because the batteries are dead, missing or not connected.

16. Smoke Alarms – Do’s and Don’ts • To be prepared when your smoke alarm starts to shriek, have a plan for escaping the fire. Your family should know the plan, and you should have all practiced it. • You should have at least one smoke alarm on every floor of your home (including the basement). Experts recommend an alarm outside each bedroom, as well. • Because smoke rises, mount your alarm near the top of the wall (about a foot from the ceiling) or on the ceiling (at least four inches from the nearest wall).

17. Smoke Alarms – Do’s and Don’ts • Installing battery-powered smoke alarms is easy, requiring only a screw driver. Some brands are self-adhesive. • Test your smoke alarms at least once a month. Pick a holiday or your birthday and replace the batteries each year on that day. • Change the batteries in your smoke alarms at least once a year, even if they aren't chirping at you to warn you that the battery is getting low.