fire safety plan for home

fire safety plan for home

Understanding Fire Safety Plan for Home

Home fires are very common and can lead to destruction. In fact, they cause $8.4 billion in direct property damage and even lead to the loss of lives. Only a fire safety plan for the home can help reduce the risk and ensure the safety of you, your property, and your loved ones.

Here are some of the main causes of home fires:

  • Faulty wires
  • Heating devices and equipment that consume a lot of power
  • Smoking and smoking materials (pipes, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, etc.)
  • Electrical problems (inexpensive electrical cords, old appliances, faulty outlets, etc.)
  • Neglected fireplaces (little to no maintenance of fireplaces)
  • Candles
  • Chemicals (like gasoline)
  • Decorative lighting

Fires are extremely unpredictable and that is why it’s important to come up with a good fire safety plan for the home to ensure your and your family’s safety. Hence, we’ll be discussing some good safety measures to reduce the risk of a fire outbreak and create a safety plan.

Fire Safety Plan for Home: Key Safety Measures

  • Install smoke alarms and at least one fire extinguisher in an easily accessible part of your house.
  • Keep up proper maintenance of fireplaces and chimneys.
  • Switch off electrical appliances and other flammable items when not in use.
  • Use large ashtrays if anyone smokes in the home.
  • Place candles in a safe place out of reach of children and blow them out when not in use.
  • Store gasoline outside your home.
  • Invest in 100-150 watt LED equivalents.
  • Clean the kitchen vent.
  • Replace any old outlets and ensure the wiring is neat and safe.
  • Arrange service and repairs of appliances at least 2-3 times a year.
  • Detect any other fire hazards around your house and manage them accordingly.

Creating a Safety Plan For Home

While we stress the importance of safety measures, it is also very important to devise a good fire safety plan for you and your family so you can quickly evacuate in case of an accident.

Given below are some steps to discuss with your family to ensure there’s little to no risk:

  • Make an escape route and ensure it is safe at all hours.
  • Instruct everyone to vacate using the escape route nearest to them.
  • Contact the local fire department immediately and if there are any children present, teach them how to place the call and convey the address over the phone.
  • Ensure all windows and doors can be unlocked on the spot and inform everyone where the keys for every lock are kept. Moreover, they should be kept in a location that is easy to access.
  • Decide on a point to meet outside the house. This is important to ensure nobody gets lost.
  • Advise all family members to leave behind everything as their safety is the priority. No one should re-enter the house for anything until it is safe.
  • If all escape routes are blocked / anyone is trapped, close the room door and seal the bottom with a cloth to reduce any chances of the fire spreading faster.

Conclusion

The most important thing is to ensure everyone is aware of the home fire safety plan that you have prepared. Test drills can help make things easier. Moreover, we suggest that you practice the fire safety plan at least 3-4 times for your and your family’s safety.

Also, keep up with all the necessary precautions and safety measures to reduce an outbreak in the first place. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how hard one tries, fires can occur. When it happens, you will need the help of a fire restoration company like getting Del Mar.