Practical Fire Prevention

When my friend, Jackie, left on her mission she passed on to me a huge stack of preparedness ideas that she had gathered together for what was to be a Stake Preparedness Fair. We did have one a couple of years ago but these items were not used. I am sooooo grateful for all this info. I plan on passing on to you some of the 'better' ideas. So today it's info from the West Stanislaus Co. Fire Prevention District with Jan commentary :)

Kitchen:

• When cooking do not wear loose clothing. At girls camp the cooks regularly light their aprons on fire because of the height of the pot stove. Loose clothing and fire is a nightmare waiting to happen - and if it is polyester then it will adhere to you like a second skin.
• Always keep the right size cover for the pan you are cooking in near by to extinguish a fire in the pan by covering the pan with the lid. I never considered this - what a good idea.
• Do not use water to put out a grease fire, as it will cause fire to flare up and spread. I have seen this happen - use baking soda, salt (not flour) or a wet towel to throw over the flames. Oxygen means flames, remove the oxygen and the fire will go out.
• Do not carry a burning pan or other burning material out of the house. By carrying it out you risk spilling the fire or burning yourself. Spilling the fire will cause the fire to ignite in other places and it may block escape for the other occupants in the house. This makes sense that someone would try to do this in a state of panic. You can see the nightmare that this could easily cause.

Bathroom:

•  Don't leave hair dryers or curling irons plugged in. I had a friend who lost a big hunk of her home because her daughter left the curling iron plugged in. 
• Make sure that you have Ground Fault Circuit Interruption outlets for the electrical items in the bathroom. GFCI protects you from serious electrical shock. Those are those funny outlets with the push button on them so they can 'break' if there is an emergency. It could save your life.

Bedroom:
Now most of these items on the list directly relate in the Bedroom to smoking in bed or putting burning materials in a garbage can so I am going to leave them out - they make sense but with the gospel principles we should be expousing in our homes (specifically the Word of Wisdom), I figured this shouldn't be an issue.

• Sleep with your door closed. This can save your life by keeping the smoke out of your room if there is a fire else where in your home. I couldn't do this as a child since I was sure the boogeyman would come out of the mirror on the back of my door. Better now :) You might try to do a trial run with your kids having their doors closed - see if they have the strength and ability to get out through the window (do you have ladders for second story windows or baseball bats to break the window?).
• Smoke detectors in every bedroom. I personally think they would be better in the hall right outside your room. Maybe both. If you follow the counsel in suggestion number 1 then your door would be closed so if the fire is in the house, then the hall one would go off, but if it is in your bedroom, then the bedroom one would go off.
• Keep the area around night-lights clear of all materials that might burn. How many times have you found the kids blankets have fallen off the bed and down next to the night light? Kind of scary.

General:

• Do not run extension cords under carpeting or flooring. Especially if the actual plug-in part is under the rug. Can you imagine if it were only partially plugged in? Fire!
• Keep the circuit breaker panel clear of storage. You may need to get to it in a hurry.
• If you have a fuse box do not use a fuse larger than what is supposed to be in the socket. It will put an overload on the system. 
• Do not place any metal behind the fuse to keep it from blowing. This was an old wives tale and many did it hoping to keep their fuses from blowing. No, No and no.
• Do not use zip cord extension cords for long term use, as it is only intended for temporary use. I had to go out on the Internet to find out what a zip cord is. It is a temporary low voltage extension cord.

Heating Equipment:

• Keep the area around your furnace, wood stove and electrical baseboard heater clear of storage.
• Have your chimney inspected at least once a year. Cleaning it too is not a bad idea - you can either use a chimney sweeping service or you can burn a log that burns off creosote (you can get them at your local hardware store).
• Clean your wood stove before ash recovery area is full.
• Have your furnace serviced and cleaned at least once a year. Change out your filters (you can do this yourself) and get in there with a shop vac. 
• If you use electric heat keep the heating elements and the register clear of dust. Do not store wood next to the wood stove or fireplace. I think it's safe to store minimal amount of wood next to the fireplace as long as it's a safe distance away and your fireplace has all the proper guards in place. I think the problem is when a spark comes off the fireplace and lands on the stored wood. I have our wood next to the fireplace but it is in a large solid copper cylinder container off to the side.

Laundry Room:

• Clean the dryer lint filter before every use. I have a note on my dryer that reads 'If you do not clean out the lint trap before each load I will personally thunk you in the head . . . the management'. Lint not only can be a fire hazard (one of the top ones on the list) but it kills your dryer. 
• Clean behind and under the dryer at least once a year to prevent dust build up.
• Do not keep anything on the dryer while it is in use because it may cause it to over heat. Hmmm may be an issue here. I keep all my laundry soap on the dryer. 
• Do not overload the washer or dryer, this puts a large load on the motor and electrical system.

These points for practical fire prevention don't talk about training your kids or having an escape plan but hopefully it will get you thinking that direction. Enjoy!