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Safety and Preparedness
These are a variety of improvements you can make on your home to make it safer. With today’s innovations and high tech electronic wizardry, you may be surprised by what you can do to make you feel more secure in your home.
Fire Safety
Fire is the number one household danger and has been since fire was brought indoors for heating. Accidents and total household destructions have occurred due to misunderstandings, miscalculations and misuse or this powerful force of nature.
Take note of the following points with regard to residential fires.
- Careless smoking is the leading cause or residential fire details.
- Twenty five percent of all fires with child fatalities are caused by children playing with fire!
- Household fire hazards include overloaded electrical circuit, faulty wiring, unsafe appliances, wood an coal burning furnaces and stoves, space heating unattended fireplaces and the careless use of lighters and matches, especially by children.
Fire prevention
The best defense against fire is common sense.
- Exercise great care with all flammable material near all high heat sources and especially combustible liquids.
- Don’t overload electrical circuits or put too great a burden on individual outlets. This can cause overheating which leads to wire fatigue and a possible fire.
- Don’t use bulbs with a higher wattage than a lamp or fixture is rated for because the texture can overheat. You will find the recommended bulb wattage for that fixture on a label on the lamp.
- Keep an eye out for faulty electronic equipment, frayed electronic cords or flickering lights, as they are all potential fire hazards.
- Don’t smoke in bed or when you are hired or lying down.
- Keep space heaters way form flammable items. Buy units with tip over shut off switches and never operate one while sleeping.
Smoke Alarms
A smoke alarm is considered one of the least expensive and best forms of life protection insurance you can buy. A smoke detector actually doubles your chances of surviving a fire by warning you of the danger before its too late.
For minimum coverage, have at least one smoke detector or alarm on every level of your home and in every sleeping area.
Smoke detectors can either be..
- Battery operated- these units can be installed everywhere and anywhere. They require frequent inspection to determine the condition of the battery.
- AC powered- these units can be installed by an electrician and are much more dependable in the long term than the battery operated units. Some high-end models even have lights that come on when the alarm is activated.
Testing alarms and detectors
All smoke detectors and alarms have test buttons that when pushed causes the alarm to sound. Also, many detectors have either a blinking or solid light that flows to let you know the alarm is getting power.
You need to test the alarm once a month by pressing the button. If you don’t hear anything the battery is dead. To test if the detector is working properly, light tow or three matches together and blow them out near the detector so the smoke wafts toward the unit. If the alarm sounds you know it is working properly.
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