You check your smoke detectors like clockwork. You have fire extinguishers in their proper locations. But is your household or business actually safe from common fire hazards?
Sparks can turn into a fire that spreads throughout a room in just two minutes. While you might have suppression equipment on hand, the other half of fire safety involves identifying and reducing common risks:
Your Kitchen
From pans and deep fryers filled with oil to food debris accumulating at the bottom of your oven to pot holders too close to the cooking area, your kitchen contains a number of fire hazards. In fact, due to this combination, it’s the prime location for household fires.
To reduce your risks:
- Never leave food cooking on a stovetop unattended.
- Keep flammable materials, like towels and pot holders, away from open flames.
- Thoroughly clean your pans, oven and stovetop to remove grease residue.
- Clear clutter around the kitchen and never leave cooking supplies, papers or other combustible materials near appliances, including fryers, microwaves and hot plates.
- Never toss water onto a grease fire. Instead, equip your kitchen with the proper class of fire extinguisher.
Heating Equipment
Rising temperatures, frayed wires and electrical coils can all contribute to a house or commercial fire. But rather than live with the cold:
- Keep flammable and combustible materials at least three feet from space heaters, electric fireplaces and your furnace.
- Never plug more than one heating appliance into an electrical outlet.
- If you use a traditional fireplace, keep a screen over the front, and have the chimney professionally cleaned and examined once per year.
- Turn off heating appliances when you leave your home or go to sleep.
- As outside fixtures, fire pits must be kept at least 10 feet away from all buildings, debris and anything else flammable. Just as with your fireplace, place a metal screen on top to control the embers and any coals or logs inside.
- Supervise children and pets any time they’re around heating equipment.
Electronics and Your Electrical System
How you use your laptop, plug appliances and electronics into outlets and use power tools increases your fire risks. Common concerns include:
- Extension cords: This includes plugging multiple extension cords into a single outlet or running them under rugs, through doorways and other high-traffic locations.
- Electrical outlets: All of your work, entertainment and cooking equipment is plugged into a single outlet. Or, you’ve connected multiple power strips to one outlet. These scenarios can result in electrical overload, with sparks soon to follow.
- An outdated electrical system: Can your wires and equipment handle the demands of modern-day appliances and electronics? If the lights dim or the circuit breaker trips regularly, your home is telling you no.
- Laptops: Leaving laptops on upholstered surfaces like a bed or couch can contribute to overheating and cause the battery to catch fire.
- Light bulbs: Not selecting the proper wattage can strain the light fixture’s electrical components, potentially leading to sparks flying onto a nearby lampshade or combustible materials.
Candles
They’re added for warmth, atmosphere and even scent, but candles contribute to an average of 20 fires per day, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Should you opt to keep candles in your household:
- Only light them on a heat-resistant surface.
- Never burn them longer than recommended.
- Keep candles away from clutter and flammable materials, including plants, clothing, curtains, paper towels and anything made of cloth.
- Never leave candles unattended, especially if you have children and pets in your household.
- Opt for flameless candles rather than ones you light.
Defective Smoke Detectors
An unplugged, damaged or battery-less smoke detector jeopardizes the safety of your household.
Proper use of smoke detectors involves:
- Ensuring your household has the correct number: One for every floor, with a fixture placed in front of each bedroom.
- Maintaining your smoke detector: Have your detector tested once per month, and replace the batteries once per year.
- Never dismantling or disconnecting your smoke detector.
Clutter
Do you pile up old newspapers for recycling, create mountains of clothes in lieu of a laundry basket or leave disorganized odds and ends throughout your house? If these items are located near a heat source or electrical fixture, they quickly become kindling and act as an accelerant for the flames.
Instead, store these and similar items away from space heaters, outlets and lamps, ideally in a heat-resistant container.
Cleaning Products
Cleaning products are a two-level fire hazard. One, improperly mixing materials can generate toxic gases or even cause an explosion. Two, adding heat into the equation — for instance, storing your glass, multipurpose and other cleaners in the basement, feet away from the furnace — increases the chances of an explosion.
To address these concerns:
- Never store cleaning products near a heat source.
- Keep all products in their original containers, all fully sealed.
- Make sure you understand which chemicals cannot be mixed or stored together.
- Should a chemical spill, clean it up right away and throw away the cleaning rag.
Seasonal Fire Hazards
Based on the time of year:
- Christmas trees can turn into a fire hazard if you use incandescent bulbs, let the branches dry out and don’t clean up needles that have shed onto the floor.
- Generators — a fixture for winter snowstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes and summer blackouts — increase both fire and carbon monoxide exposure risks. Be sure to keep your generator outdoors and away from open flames or anything that could spark.
As you amp up your fire prevention efforts, Fire Safety USA can point you to essential home suppression solutions, including fire extinguishers and blankets. Browse today or contact us to learn more.