Protecting your home from Fire Hazards
Since it is fire prevention week in Canada, it is no better time to review fire safety and how to protect your home and prevent fire hazards. The winter months often see a significant rise in house and apartment fires largely due to unsafe practices and people failing to comply with fire rules and regulations. The truth is that most of these fires can be prevented. All homeowners and residents need to do is follow proper fire safety procedures to protect their home.
Here are some important and effective tips for protecting your home from fire hazards:
Don’t leave appliances unattended: Many fires are simply caused by leaving your stove unattended. Always keep an eye on things when cooking in the kitchen, especially if using oils while cooking.
Watch out for faulty lights: They often say that you get what you pay for. So, when it comes to lights, make sure you purchase high quality lights or you could risk them shorting out and causing a fire.
Be careful with candles: Candles cause fires way too often. Never leave them unattended, make sure they are out before you go to bed, and try to use candles with covers if possible. Also, avoid placing them in places where they could get knocked over, are within a child’s reach, or are close to anything that could catch on fire.
Don’t overload power bars and electrical outlets: Putting too much stress on power bars by using too many plugs in one outlet can cause an outlet be overloaded and short out. Also, avoid using frayed power cords.
Make sure cigarette butts are out: All too often, smokers fail to put out their cigarettes, which is a serious fire hazard.
Be smart with Christmas decorations: Make sure that you keep all Christmas lights and other decorations are set up correctly and away from anything that could be ignited.
No matter where you live and no matter how careful you are you always need to be prepared just in case a fire occurs. Have a fire plan, know where fire extinguishers are located, and follow the proper protocol to make sure that you and your family will be safe and can exit your home quickly and effectively.