Fire Prevention Tips

Elizabeth Wilson
Other

You have as little as three minutes to escape from a house fire once you hear the piercing squeal of the smoke alarm. About thirty years ago, it was estimated that you had about 17 minutes, but with all the synthetics used in homes now, a fire will grow much faster and release more-toxic smoke than a fire in the 1980s, cutting your chances of escape.

Across Canada, October 6 to 12 is Fire Prevention Week. It’s time to look at your home in terms of how to prevent fires and how to escape if fire happens. The theme this year is “Prevent Kitchen Fires,” like the one in the photo above. That one was caused by a batch of deep-fried chicken wings gone wrong. No one was hurt, but the fire caused over $300,000 damage.

Here’s a list of the simplest and smartest things you can do to make your home fire-safe. It was provided by Fire Chief D. Spence of the Maple Ridge Fire Department:

1. Test all the smoke alarms in your residence to make sure they are working. You should have one alarm located on every level of your home and outside the sleeping areas. You can recycle used or expired smoke and carbon monoxide alarms at an AlarmRecycle depot near you.
2. Prepare and practise a fire escape plan for your family; every member of your family should know what to do when fire strikes and where to meet. It is not uncommon for parents to risk their lives searching for children who are already out of the house.
3. Never leave your cooking unattended and made sure you have a tight-fitting lid close by when you are cooking with oil. Oil and grease fires burn very fast and hot and can cause serious burns if you try to move them or put water on them.
4. Store all flammables like gasoline or propane outside your home.
5. Keep all combustible materials well away from the front of furnaces and hot water tanks.
6. Never leave candles unattended.

For dozens more tips, take this interactive prevention, detection and escape drill from the Government of Alberta.