Smoke alarms, escape plans worth the time and investment
While most months now have a “specialty,” this one should not be ignored. Every year people, including far too many children, die in home fires. Eighty-three percent of fire related deaths were the result of home fires.
Someone is injured in a home fire every 40 minutes. About eight people die in home fires every day. You must have working smoke alarms on every level of your home. About two-thirds of reported home fire deaths are the result of fires in homes with either no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. No smoke alarms are present in 40% of home fire deaths.
Many sources on fire safety suggest a smoke alarm on every sleeping level of your home. I encourage you to have one — or more — on every level. Why? Because a fire can start on a non-sleeping level. An alarm can give you an early warning of the danger.
Properly installed and maintained smoke alarms are vital in reducing fire deaths and injuries. A working smoke alarm cuts the chances of dying in a reported fire in half. A telephone survey found 96% of U.S. households called reported they had at least one smoke alarm, yet in no smoke alarms were present or none operated in two out of five (41%) reported home fires.
More than 50% of the reported home fires were homes where the smoke alarms were present but did not operate; the lack of operation was due to missing or disconnected batteries. Alarms were disconnected due to nuisance alarms from cigarette, cooking or other smoke. Missing batteries were often taken by children to operate games that needed a battery.
Check smoke alarms monthly; replace batteries once a year. Many families change the battery the same day they change their clocks to daylight savings time.
Does your family have a family escape plan? The National Fire Protection Association urges you to develop and practice such a plan. The NFPA found only one in four Americans have developed, and practiced, a home fire escape plan to ensure they could escape quickly and safely. Of those who have an escape plan, only 35% have practiced it.
Plan two ways out of each room in your home. Have a home fire drill regularly. Your children away at college also should be taught to develop an escape plan. Eighteen to 24-year-olds are least likely to have even developed an escape plan, yet they are often living on their own.
Take precautions to avoid a home fire. Never leave the room with candles burning. Never leave a pan unattended on the stove. Never leave potholders or other fabric or paper items near stove burners. Never leave an iron plugged in and unattended. Never leave any appliances, plug-ins, adaptors, or electronics plugged in around curtains or sheers. Never leave your dryer running when you leave home.
Never smoke in bed. Smoking in bed needs more attention. Smoking materials — cigarettes, cigars, pipes, etc. — are the leading cause of one in four fire deaths. The most common items ignited in home smoking-material fire deaths were upholstered furniture and mattresses/bedding. Most important, one out of four victims of fatal smoking-related fires is not the smoker whose cigarette started the fire.
Don’t let your family become a fire victim statistic. Practice fire safety.
Bev Theil is a child advocate in Wayne and Holmes counties. She can be contacted at BeverlyVT@aol.com.