Easy Ways To Prevent House Fires

House fires claim lives and destroy property all across the globe, but you and your home do not have to be a victim. As long as you follow a set of guidelines that have been developed to protect you and your family, the chance that your home will catch on fire will be greatly reduced. Make sure the rest of your household knows these new rules and that you plan on having them follow them to the letter, though, or the effort will be wasted.

One of the most important things is to realize that most house fires start in the kitchen. These usually start due to human error or negligence, but mostly it is because items are left unattended on the stove. This is something that you should never do. Do not allow yourself to become occupied with other events in your home such as fighting children, the telephone, or family members wanting you in another room. If you want to watch something on TV while you are cooking, have a small television installed in the kitchen, perhaps under one of the upper cabinets. Give yourself every reason to stay in the kitchen.

You should also not ever try to open your stove’s oven door while it is cleaning itself. Most ovens lock shut while they are cleaning themselves and you should not try to force this door open due to the amount of heat inside. This is a hotter temperature than it will allow you to cook things at.

If you ever have to clean anything with gas or turpentine, do it outside away from your house due to the fumes. The fumes are heavier than air and settle around the floor, making any spark from a wall outlet a serious threat. These and other materials marked as highly flammable should be stored outside the home and away from it, in a shed of some kind if possible.

Your electrical outlets should never be overloaded with accessories that create extra outlets or extension cords. Extension cords, when you do have to use them, should not be used with devices that are created to emit a large amount of heat, such as space heaters or items that you cook with, such as electric skillets. These will melt most household extension cords, so a more heavy duty variety should be used. Never run extension cords under rugs or carpet.

The batteries in your smoke detectors need to be changed at least once a year. Test your smoke detector every few months to make sure that it is working correctly and having one that also detects carbon monoxide is an added bonus, since this is a silent, invisible killer that is more common than you may realize.

House Fire Sources

Fires can start in the house a number of different ways and knowing as much as you can about fire safety in the home is important in preventing this from happening.

Cooking in the kitchen poses the most amount of risk, but since most people have to do this to survive because they cannot afford to eat out all the time, it must be done. Safety comes first and this means that you should not leave anything on the stove unattended in the kitchen. If you do have to leave, turn it off or leave someone in the kitchen to watch it for you.

Space heaters that you using during the winter time can also present a substantial amount of risk if you do not know where you can safely place them in your home. They should never be put near furniture, curtains, or any other fabric item. Something else you need to know is that extension cords should never be used with appliances that use a lot of electricity or put out a large amount of heat. Electric skillets and deep fryers fall into this category along with space heaters and if you use a normal household extension cord with them, they will melt. If you have to use one, use a heavy duty one that is normally used outside.

If you smoke, this is another possible source of fire in the house. If you have to dump out cigarette ashes, make sure everything in the tray is completely put out. Something you should never do is smoke while you are in bed. Do not let yourself become too relaxed in a chair, either, since you may end up falling asleep and dropping the cigarette, either on the chair, bed, the floor, or yourself.

Chemicals that are flammable like gas and turpentine should be kept outside the house, preferably in a separate building. This way, if they catch on fire for some reason, the extra building will be on fire and not your home.

Electric blankets are also a great convenience, but the bad thing about these is that people tend to leave them on all night while they are sleeping instead of just using them to heat up the bed. Beds catch on fire due to improper use of these, so never leave the house while they are on and never leave them on while you are asleep.