• Smoke Kills!
  • Smoke Detectors Save Lives! Have a working smoke detector in each sleeping room, on each level of your home, and in the hall outside all sleeping rooms.
  • Each Fall, change the batteries and vacuum out any dust in your smoke detectors.
  • Have two ways out of every bedroom.
  • Have a home escape plan that includes a meeting point like the neighbor’s front porch.
  • Practice the plan and act it out. Talking about it is not enough!
  • Have all wood burning stoves, fireplaces, and chimneys inspected and cleaned annually
  • Cooking equipment is still the leading cause of home fires! Don’t leave the room with a pot on stove!  Keep combustibles away from the stove, and don’t use malfunctioning equipment.
  • Hot ashes from cleaning out a fireplace have caused many local fires as long as a day or two later. Only dispose of them in a metal can, wet them thoroughly and stir.  Do not put them in a paper or plastic bag and put that on a wood deck…it has happened many times, sometimes with a tragic ending.

US Fire Statistics

 

  • A fire department responded to a fire every 23 seconds.
  • One structure fire was reported every 63 seconds.
  • One home structure fire was reported every 86 seconds.
  • One civilian fire injury was reported every 34 minutes.
  • One civilian fire death occurred every 2 hours and 40 minutes. 3,280 civilian deaths from fire in 2015.

Source: NFPA  National Fire Protection Administration