PSA: Home Fire Protection

[AngryScientist]

Just got back from a week of dealing with some intense fire protection stuff. got to start and put out a few blazing infernos. got me thinking about my own house.

everyone should have at least one class ABC fire extinguisher in the house, and know how to use it. i just bought a couple for my house, and one to keep in the garage.

anyone who cooks in the kitchen should at least have a basic idea of what do do with a fire on the stove or in the oven. dumping a glass of cold water on a frying pan grease fire is a recipe for disaster. having some basic knowledge and planning out a few scenarios in your head before anything goes wrong can really be the difference between a major incident and a non-event.

along the lines of the above, have a plan with the whole family and whoever lives in the house, pets, etc. about what to do if a fire breaks out in any number of places. know the exits. keep the batteries fresh in the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. the plan doesnt need to be complicated, but there should be a plan.

fires can be deadly serious, and go from harmlessly small to blazing in shockingly little time.

i dont mean to sound preachy, just some takeaways i had last week that i thought i'd share.

http://www.safetysign.com/images/catlog/product/large/A5310.png

[wongmic75]

Awesome reminder!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[batman1425]

Couldn't agree more.

I'll add one more tip - smoke detectors do have a shelf life. As they age their sensitivity drops, 10years is the recommended service life for most units. If you don't know how old your units are, it should be on a sticker on the back or in the battery compartment. You can get a 6-10pack box of them at your favorite big-box home improvement store for under $100 and won't take more than an hour to install them all. Also - be kind to the environment and figure out what the regulations for disposing of the old units in your state are. Many of the models out there have very small qualities of radioactive isotopes in them and some states have special disposal requirements. PA for example won't take them in municipal waste, you have to send them back to the manufacturer (they are required to recover and dispose of their old units properly if you request that service). Its a fairly painless process.

[eippo1]

Not to pull this an another direction, but has anyone put in a monitored system with a fire detector in their place. We have a dog that stays home alone for much of the day.

Been thinking about getting a SimpliSafe system for some security, but also so that if the fire alarm is going off, someone is notified. One of the worst things I could think of would be losing our pup in a fire while the detector is blaring. She's strong enough to go through a window, but not when the storm windows are down and I'm not sure if she'd do it.

[AngryScientist]

Not to pull this an another direction, but has anyone put in a monitored system with a fire detector in their place. We have a dog that stays home alone for much of the day.

Been thinking about getting a SimpliSafe system for some security, but also so that if the fire alarm is going off, someone is notified. One of the worst things I could think of would be losing our pup in a fire while the detector is blaring. She's strong enough to go through a window, but not when the storm windows are down and I'm not sure if she'd do it.

it's certainly not a bad idea if you have a house that is unoccupied for large portions of the day, and a very good point. it would be heartbreaking to lose a pet that way.

[saf-t]

Adding to the above, the National Fire Protection Assn. (NFPA) has a nice selection of free materials on many aspects of fire prevention.

http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/resources/safety-tip-sheets

[Rpoole8537]

Earlier in my career, I developed promotional exams for a medium size fire department. Though I have forgotten many of the details, the construction of your home is also important. I know from reading posts on Paceline that many of us live in older homes, and many times how your home is constructed and the materials are very important. Sometimes there were no fire codes or many times they may have been ignored. So, all of this should be taken in consideration when developing your plan. I just moved into a sixty year old home which is not old by most standards. However, it has a full basement that houses a gas furnace and a large wood stove. The furnace is near the only stairwell. There is a small door in one corner, it is not a walkout basement, but the door is large enough to bring wood into the basement. However, it opened to the outside and was locked from the outside. I ripped it out and built a door that opened to the inside and locked from the inside. I did not want to be down there exercising or whatever and have the furnace or stove catch fire and find myself with no way out. So, I have an extinguisher in the kitchen, the basement and in the hallway. I need to add one for the garage. Thanks for the message, Angry Scientist.