21 Oct 2022 • Brave Care

Fire Safety at Home

Helpful tips to help keep you and your family safe

The month of October is mostly known for Halloween fun and beautiful fall colors, but did you know that it is also Fire Safety month? We want to share some important information to help keep you and your family safe.This is a great opportunity to highlight the importance of educating and talking with your children, families, friends and colleagues about safety measures and to ensure you have a plan in place. You will also find that many fire departments in your community offer education during the month of October.

What are things that you can do today to prevent, plan, and prepare for house fires?

Test your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms at least once a month by pushing the test button. Long life batteries are the ideal choice, if you don’t have long life batteries be sure to replace them at least once a year.
- It’s important to have both smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on every floor of your home, as well as inside and outside of each bedroom and in basements.
- Replace your smoke alarms every 10 years.
- Do not paint smoke alarms.
- Clean your smoke alarms monthly by dusting or vacuuming.
Ensure you have a working fire extinguisher on every floor of your home - including one in both the garage and kitchen.
Create an escape plan or route with your family and know what steps to take if a fire were to occur.
- Your plan should include two options for exits to escape from for each room of the house.
- Have a common meeting place designated for when everyone has left the home.
- Practice your escape plan by conducting fire drills so everyone knows how to get out and what to do in an emergency. You should practice this with your family every 6 months ensuring everyone knows what to do.
Do not leave small children alone in your home.
Check electric cords and replace any that are worn or damaged. Avoid putting too many plugs in your outlets.
If you have a wood stove you can request your local fire department to check that the ventilation is safe.
If possible, avoid the use of electric space heaters.
- If you do use them, ensure that they are placed far away from any walls, curtains, clothes or bedding and unplug them at night.
Keep lighters and matches away from children.
Do not leave candles unattended and ensure they are on a safe surface out of reach from children.

If a fire or burn does occur

Test closed doors with the back of your hand for heat - do not open the door if you see smoke or feel heat. Close doors as you leave the room to keep the fire from spreading.
Get everyone outside right away and meet at your common meeting spot.
Do not stop to put out the fire. Do not go back into the house. This should be left to the firefighters to avoid any injuries that are more likely to happen.
Ensure everyone in your home knows how to Stop, Drop and Roll and to cool any burned areas of their body with water and to call for help.
If your child encounters a burn from a fire injury and you are unsure how to proceed you can always use our panic - free Symptom Checker . This tool that was built by our providers will ask all the correct questions and guide you on whether it is something you can care for at home, something it may be best to come in and see one of our providers for an urgent care visit or something that may require a higher level of care in an Emergency Room setting.
If the burn can be managed at home the tool will share some easy at home care guides with you on how to properly care for your child's injury.
Call 911 from your cell phone or the neighbors home.

If you have any questions or would like more information you can reach out to your local fire department or visit www.nfpa.org for more helpful tools and information.

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