FIRE PREVENTION AND TIPS TO KEEP YOU AND YOUR FAMILY SAFE

 You know your entire family should practice your escape plan twice a year. But what is your escape plan? These guides will help you decide:

• If you live in a single-family home » 
• If you live in a multi-family home » 
• If you live in a high-rise apartment complex » 

Then, use our template to draw your home's unique escape routes:

• This printable worksheet will help you plan and practice home fire drills »

• DO keep items that can catch on fire at least three feet away from anything that gets hot, such as space heaters.
• Smoking materials are the leading cause of residential fire deaths in the United States. So if you smoke:
  • DO take precautions: Smoke outside; choose fire-safe cigarettes; use deep, sturdy ashtrays and douse cigarette and cigar butts with water before disposal.
  • DON'T ever smoke in bed, when drowsy or medicated, or if anyone in the home is using oxygen.
• DO talk to children regularly about the dangers of fire, matches, and lighters and keep them out of reach.
• DO turn portable heaters off when you leave the room or go to sleep.
• DO use flashlights when the power is out, not candles.
• DON'T leave a burning candle unattended, even for a minute.

• Install smoke alarms on every level of your home and outside every sleeping area. 
• Install a carbon monoxide alarm in a central location outside each separate sleeping area. Download the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Fact Sheet.
• Make sure your house number is easily readable from the street, even at night.
• Make sure your home heating sources are clean and in working order. Many home fires are started by poorly maintained furnaces or stoves, cracked or rusted furnace parts, or chimneys with creosote buildup. Download the Home Heating Fires Fact Sheet.
• Use kerosene heaters only if permitted by law. Refuel kerosene heaters only outdoors and after they have cooled.
• Check the electrical wiring in your home:
  • Fix or replace frayed extension cords, exposed wires, or loose plugs.
  • Make sure wiring is not under rugs, attached by nails, or in high-traffic areas.
  • Make sure electrical outlets have cover plates and no exposed wiring.
  • Avoid overloading outlets or extension cords.
• Purchase only appliances and electrical devices (including space heaters) that bear the label of an independent testing laboratory.
• Store combustible materials in open areas away from heat sources. Place rags used to apply flammable household chemicals in metal containers with tight-fitting lids.

• Stay in the kitchen when frying, grilling, or broiling food. Stay in the home while simmering, baking, roasting, or boiling food.
• Keep pets off cooking surfaces and countertops.
• Keep the stove area clean and clear of things that can catch fire, such as pot holders, towels, curtains, bags, and other appliances.
• If you are cooking and a fire starts in a pan, slide a lid over the burning pan and turn off the burner. Leave the lid in place until the pan is completely cool. Moving the pan can cause serious injury or spread fire. Never pour water on grease fires. Download the Cooking Fires Fact Sheet.

• Know how to safely operate a fire extinguisher
• Remember to GET OUT, STAY OUT, and CALL 9-1-1 or your local emergency phone number.
• Yell "Fire!" several times and go outside right away. If you live in a building with elevators, use the stairs. Leave all your things where they are and save yourself.
• If closed doors or handles are warm or smoke blocks your primary escape route, use your second way out. Never open doors that are warm to the touch.
• If you must escape through smoke, get low and go under the smoke to your exit. Close doors behind you.
• If smoke, heat, or flames block your exit routes, stay in the room with doors closed. Place a wet towel under the door and call the fire department or 9-1-1. Open a window and wave a brightly colored cloth or flashlight to signal for help.
• Once you are outside, go to your meeting place and then send one person to call the fire department. If you cannot get to your meeting place, follow your family emergency communication plan.

• Stop what you’re doing.
• Drop to the ground and cover your face if you can.
• Roll over and over or back and forth until the flames go out. Running will only make the fire burn faster.

 If you have a fire, smoke alarms can cut nearly half your risk of dying in a fire. Smoke alarms sense abnormal amounts of smoke or invisible combustion gases in the air. They can detect both smoldering and flaming fires.

• In new homes: The National Fire Alarm Code (NFPA 72) requires hard-wired, interconnected smoke alarms with battery backup on every level of the home, outside each sleeping area, and inside each bedroom. Alarms must be wired together so that if one sounds, they all sound.
• In existing homes: If smoke alarms are not already in place, at a minimum install them on every level of the home and outside each sleeping area. If a fire occurs inside a bedroom, dangerous gases can cause heavier sleep. For the best protection, install interconnected smoke alarms in each bedroom and throughout the home. When one sounds, they all sound.
• To prevent nuisance alarms, vacuum cobwebs and dust from your smoke alarms monthly. Never disable a smoke alarm, even if you experience nuisance alarms while cooking or showering. Instead, use the alarm’s “hush” button. If nuisance alarms are a persistent problem, look for a different type of smoke alarm and ensure they are installed in the correct areas of the home.
• Use the test button to test your smoke alarms at least monthly. The test feature tests all electronic functions and is safer than testing with a controlled fire (matches, lighters, cigarettes).
  • If the manufacturer's instructions permit the use of an aerosol smoke product for testing the smoke alarm, choose one that has been examined and tested by a third-party product testing laboratory, and use it in accordance with the product instructions.
• If you have battery-powered smoke alarms, replace the batteries at least once a year. Some agencies recommend that you replace batteries when the time changes from standard to daylight savings each spring and then back again in the fall. "Change your clock, change your batteries." Replacing batteries this often will not hurt, but fresh batteries typically last at least a year, so more frequent replacement is not necessary unless the smoke alarm begins to chirp.
  • If your local area does not observe daylight savings time, pick an easy-to-remember anniversary, such as your birthday or a national holiday, as the day to change the batteries each year.
  • Replace the batteries in your carbon monoxide (CO) alarms at the same time you replace your smoke alarm batteries.
• Replace your smoke alarms every 10 years. This is the recommendation of the National Fire Protection Association and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Smoke alarms become less sensitive over time.
• Be sure to install smoke alarms in areas where pets are and in other buildings that house animals where humans can hear them.

Learn smoke alarm basics in just 2 minutes:

  Install carbon monoxide alarms to alert your family to this invisible, odorless, colorless gas before it’s too late. Carbon monoxide is created when fuels (such as gasoline, wood, coal, natural gas, propane, oil, and methane) burn incompletely. Even a small amount of carbon monoxide can poison or kill a person if it is breathed in over a long period of time – such as overnight while sleeping.

• Install carbon monoxide alarms in central locations on every level of your home and outside sleeping areas.
• If the carbon monoxide alarm sounds move quickly to a fresh air location outdoors or by an open window or door.
• Never use a generator, grill, camp stove, or other gasoline, propane, natural gas, or charcoal-burning devices inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace, or any partially enclosed area.

Fire Safety tips 1. Install and Maintain Smoke AlarmsSmoke alarms double the chance of your family surviving a fire, so it goes without saying that you should have several.  

• Don’t neglect to test them and change the batteries regularly.
• You should test them once a month and change the batteries every 6 months (if your smoke alarms use replaceable batteries) regardless of whether they seem to need it, just to be on the safe side (some alarms are 10-year tamper resistant and don’t have replaceable batteries).
• You know the drill — make it a habit to change batteries twice a year when you turn your clocks.

2. Beware of Common Fire Risks in the KitchenMost home fires start in the kitchen during cooking — usually on stovetops —not in the oven. Be sure to stay in the kitchen when cooking, frying, or grilling on your stovetop.  

• Check for curtains, towel racks, or even paper towel dispensers sitting too close to the burners.
• If your microwave isn’t built in, make sure it’s clear of surrounding clutter and its vents aren’t obstructed.
• If you don’t already have one, buy a fire extinguisher to keep within easy reach should something ignite while you’re cooking.
• Remember, don’t toss water on a grease fire if you’re caught without an extinguisher. If a fire starts in a pan — and many do — put a lid on it to suffocate the flames.

3. Use Home Heating Equipment SafelyHeating equipment, like space heaters, is involved in 1 of every 6 home fires. Furthermore, 1 in every 5 home fire deaths and half of all fires caused by home heating occur between December and February.  

• Make sure to always keep anything that gives off heat at least 3 feet away from flammable materials or items.
• Never plug more than one heating appliance into an outlet.
• Keep portable gas generators outside and away from windows to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.
• If you have a fireplace, make sure your chimney is checked and cleaned by a professional once a year. Use a metal or glass screen that is large enough to prevent escaping embers.
• Never leave fires (or candles) burning, or heating appliances plugged in, while asleep, in another room, or when you leave your home.

4. Maintain Your Appliances - Especially DryersDryers are responsible for about 9 out of 10 appliance fires.  

• Check yours — in fact, check all your appliances — for testing labels that indicate you purchased them in safe working order. You may not find them on some older appliances, so consider whether it’s time to replace them or have them checked by a professional.
• Make it a habit to clean out the lint screen every time you use your dryer. It may be an annoyance, but this simple action can save you a lot more pain and aggravation later.

• Consider having one or more working fire extinguishers in your home. An extinguisher rated “A-B-C” is recommended for home use. Many fire extinguisher models are designed for one-time use and cannot be recharged.
• Get training from the fire department or a fire extinguisher manufacturer. Fire extinguishers from various manufacturers operate in different ways and there is no time to read directions during an emergency. Only adults should handle and use extinguishers.
• Install extinguishers high on the wall, near an exit, and away from heat sources. Extinguishers should be easily accessible to adults trained to use them and kept away from children's curious hands. Heat may make the contents less effective or cause the extinguisher to lose its charge more quickly.
• If you try to use a fire extinguisher on a fire and the fire does not immediately die down, drop the extinguisher and get out. Most portable extinguishers empty in 8 seconds.
• Look at your fire extinguisher to ensure that it is properly charged. Fire extinguishers will not work properly if they are not properly charged. Use the gauge or test button to check that there is proper pressure. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for replacing or recharging fire extinguishers. If the unit is low on pressure, damaged, or corroded, replace it or have it professionally serviced.

Before you begin to fight a fire with a fire extinguisher, be sure that:

• Everyone has left or is leaving the home.
• The fire department has been called.
• The fire is small and not spreading.
• Your back is to an exit you can use quickly.
• There is not much smoke in the room.

Remember the word PASS when using a fire extinguisher:

• Pull out the small pin that prevents the fire extinguisher from accidentally being used.
• Aim low. Point the extinguisher at the base of the fire.
• Squeeze the lever slowly and evenly.
• Sweep the nozzle from side to side.

• Pay attention to how you and your loved ones are experiencing and handling stress. Promote emotional recovery by following these tips. 
• Discard any food that has been exposed to heat, smoke, or soot.
• Watch pets closely and keep them under your direct control.
• Help people who require additional assistance- infants and children, older adults, those without transportation, large families who may need additional help in an emergency situation, people with disabilities, and the people who care for them.

 Returning Home After a Fire

Stay safe when returning to your home after a fire:

• Checking your home after a fire »
  
• Cleaning up after a fire » 

 Recovering After a Home Fire

Once you are physically safe, take time to ensure your family’s emotional and financial well-being.

• Download the Picking Up the Pieces After a Fire guide »
  
• Read our disaster recovery guides »