4 Best Practices for Fire Safety Around the Home

Fire safety is an essential practice for homeowners. Without it, they are leaving their home at risk for devastating consequences. Rather than allow this to happen to you, there are some simple steps that all homeowners can follow. The blog post below outlines these simple steps by highlighting the most common ways that you can practice fire safety in the home today.

1. Monitor Candles

A common reason why many homes suffer a loss due to fire is simply because candles were left unattended. For this reason, it is essential that every time a candle is burned in your home it is monitored. Otherwise, the candle is at risk of heating the area around it and causing it to burn.

Despite this being a simple and common tactic that homeowners can use, there are still a number of candle-related fire incidents that happen every year. To prevent this from happening to you, it is always best to burn candles during the day, or to set yourself a reminder to blow them out.

2. Check Smoke Alarms

Many households fail to check their smoke alarms on a regular basis. But, failing to do this can result in a fire. That’s because, the battery or wiring in the device may be faulty and prevent it from activating when smoke is in the room. For this reason, it is best to check the alarms at least once a year to see if they are functioning.

If they are not, it is essential that you have them replaced immediately. In addition to checking if the alarms are working, you should also check to see where they are placed throughout the home. This is important as you should be placing a smoke detector outside all of the bedrooms.

Additionally, if you would like added protection you may also want to place an alarm on every level of your home and in rooms that are susceptible to fire (such as the kitchen). Doing this, will help to ensure that in the event of a fire, you will have plenty of notice to evacuate your home.

3. Know Escape Routes

In the event of a fire, your family should know exactly how to escape the home. Otherwise, they may fall into a panic, and be unable to think of the best way to escape the blaze. To prevent this from happening to your family, it is best to plan ahead and practice what you should do in case this event does happen.

This is especially needed for young children who may not understand what is going on. To help practice what to do in the event of a fire, you can teach children the escape route you will take, where everyone should meet, and how everyone should react in the situation. Knowing this information prior to a fire breaking out is important as it can help to prepare a person’s reaction in a fire. In turn, ensuring no time is wasted trying to escape the home.

4. Check Electrical Outlets

Another common reason why households become prone to fires is due to the electrical work or outlets in the home. For this reason, it is important to have your electoral sockets and wiring checked by a professional. This is especially true if you notice any defects in the wiring in your home such as exposed sockets, outlets or others that can potentially lead to a fire.

Ultimately, rather than leave the risk exposed, it is best to have the issue rectified to prevent a fire from occurring. Electrical outlets can be made safer with the help of high temperature insulation, which will improve the fire safety of your home.