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1. Install smoke alarms
Smoke alarms save lives by warning you about a fire
while there's time to escape. Install alarms on every
floor of your home, including the basement, and outside
each sleeping area inside as well, if you sleep with the
door closed and test them once a month. Smoke alarms
lose their sensitivity over time. Replace alarms I0 or
more years old.
2. Automatic home fire sprinkler system
Consider installing an automatic home fire sprinkler
system in your home. Sprinklers can contain and even
extinguish a home fire in less time than it takes the
fire department to arrive.
3. Plan your escape
If there's a fire, you'll have to get out fast, so be
prepared. Draw a floor plan of your home, marking two
ways out of each room. Go over the plan with your
household so that everyone knows how to escape if
there's a fire, then physically walk through each escape
route. Decide on an outside meeting place in front of your home
where everyone will meet after they've escaped. Practice
your escape plan by holding a fire drill twice a year.
4. In a fire, crawl low under smoke
Smoke and heat rise, so during a fire there's cleaner,
cooler air near the floor. Always try, another exit if
you encounter smoke when you're escaping a fire. But if
you have to escape through smoke, crawl on your hands
and knees with you head 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60
centimeters) above the floor.
5. Smokers' safety
hr North America, more fatal fires start from smoking
than from any other cause. Don't smoke in bed or when
you're drowsy. Give smokers large, deep, non-tip
ashtrays, and soak butts and ashes before dumping them.
If someone's been smoking in )Tour home, check on and
around furniture, including under cushions, for
smoldering cigarettes.
6. Cook safely
Always stay with the stove when cooking, or turn off
burners if you walk away. Wear clothes with snug - or
rolled up sleeves when you cook to avoid catching your
clothes on fire. Turn pot handles inward where you can't
bump them and children can't grab them, and enforce a
"kid-free zone" 3 feet (1 meter) around your stove when
you cook.
7. Keep matches and lighters out of sight
Keep matches and lighters away from children. Lock them
up high and out of reach, and use only child resistant
lighters. Teach young children to tell you if they find
matches or lighters; teach older children to bring
matches and lighters to an adult before they fall into
young hands.
8. Use electricity safely
Know the warning signs of problems for electrical
appliances: flickering lights, smoke or odd smells,
blowing fuses, tripping circuit breakers or frayed or
cracked cords. Check carefully any appliances that
display a warning sign, and repair or replace. Don't run
extension cords across doorways or where they can be
walked on or pinched by furniture.
9. Space heaters
Keep portable and other space heaters at least 3 feet (1
meter) away from anything that can burn including you -
and turn heaters off when you leave home or go to bed.
Have chimneys and furnaces inspected by a professional
at the start of each heating season.
10. Stop, drop, and roll - cool and call
If your clothes catch fire, stop -- don't run. Drop
gently to the ground, cover your face with your hands,
and roll over and over or back and forth to smother the
flames. Cool the burn with cool water for 10 - 15
minutes. Call for help. |
