Keep your home safe: Safety devices

Surely you love and want nothing but the best for your family. Well this is something that needs no thought. Take every  step possible to keep your family safe. Listed below are some safety devices that I think are akin to insurance. You have to spend your hard earned money and most likely will receive nothing in return other than peace of mind knowing your family is safe and secure and you can not put a price on that. Lets go over some of them and break them down!

Smoke and Fire Alarms

Here are a few piping hot statistics that may change a mind or two. The National Fire Protection Association states that the average household will have five fires through the course  of a person’s lifetime or one every fifteen years. The U.S. Fire Administration reports that fires kill more Americans than all other natural disasters combined. That’s right. Large storms, tornados, hurricanes combined and fire still kills more by number. Want to greatly increase your families survival rate? Take the proper precautions to reduce the risk of dying in a house fire. Many fires are small in stature and can be quickly extinguished by an observant home owner.

A candle catching a paper plate on fire or a overly greasy pan in the kitchen. The NFPA also states the odds of

having a fire reportable by the fire department are 1 in 4.  The chances of a person being injured by a fire in your house are 1 in 10. Scarier yet the NFPA states that fires claim roughly 3,000 American lives yearly, while 13,000 suffer injuries sustained from said fires. Lastly a whopping 63% of fire deaths occurred in homes without working smoke alarms.

Install smoke detectors strategically. A good rule of thumb is to  have one in every bedroom and in hallways. The kitchen, attic, living room as well.

There are 2 main types of fires, fast moving fires and fires that smolder.  With that being said there are 3 types of smoke alarms on the market.

1. Ionization. Quickly detects flaming, fast moving fires.

2. Photoelectric. Rapidly detects smoky, smoldering fires.

3. Dual sensor. Both Photoelectric and Ionization capabilities.

You should equip your house with dual sensor alarms only in my opinion as either occurrence of fire type is possible.

The majority of us use or will use battery powered smoke detectors. Some can be hard wired into your homes electrical system which we will discuss shortly.

Most smoke alarms are battery operated which means they require upkeep to keep them working. This is as simple as replacing your smoke alarms batteries at least once a year. A simple way to remember this is to swap out old batteries around the same time of something else you do annually such as turning your clocks ahead or behind. After you change the batteries make sure to test the smoke alarm preferably by lighting a few matches next to it. Simply pressing the test button does suffice but you would not be testing the smoke detectors level of sensitivity.  You want it to perform well.

If you are building a new home (or buying a home with a prebuilt internal system) you have a few advantages. For starters every smoke alarm can be hard wired into your electrical system.  This does bypass the need for battery replacement and maintenance however I would also want house powered electrical units that also have battery backups incase of a power outage.  Internal alarm systems manufactured after 1993 are interconnected with each other, meaning if a fire is started in your basement and sounds off an alarm, the detectors on your first and second floors will sound off as well. I don’t know about you but if my sleeping quarters are on the 2nd floor I may not hear the alarm sounding off in my basement.

One last scary bit for you is about our children. Studies have shown that children are more likely than adults to remain asleep even during noises being produced at very loud levels such as smoke and fire alarms. To offset this many believe voice  smoke alarms better aid in waking young children up and may be a better choice. Some also allow for the recording of your own voice.

They also offer alarms using strobe lights for the hearing impaired.

Fire Extinguishers

What good is a smoke detector without a fire extinguisher? Fire extinguishers combat fire by spraying water or chemicals which remove the fires oxygen, stop chemical reactions or cool the burning fuel.  The NFPA recommends keeping one primary fire extinguisher on every level of your home as well as smaller extinguishers in the kitchen, near (but not too close) to a fireplace or in the garage. They must be approved by a testing lab that is nationally recognized such as underwriters laboratory (UL). It is imperative that you understand the labeling scheme posted on individual fire extinguishers. They are labeled with an Alphanumeric classification based on not only the type of fire it can extinguish but also the size. The letters A, B & C stand for the type of fire the extinguisher can combat.

Type A: Wood, paper, combustible material fires.

Type B: Grease, gasoline and oil fires.

Type C: Electrical fires.

Multi Types: Extinguishers such as ABC, BC. Effective against several types of fires.

For home use ABC type extinguishers suffice and are recommended. It can combat most fire types excluding chemical fires, extremely hot grease fires and fires which can burn metals. The numbers in the Alphanumeric equation are related to the overall size of the fire that the extinguisher is capable of putting out. The number you see in front of the “A” represents the number of 1.25 gallon units of water it is equivalent to.  The number in front of the “B” indicates the square footage of a grease, fuel or oil fire the extinguisher is capable of putting out, C ratings have no associated number.

 

Recommended models in extinguishers vary from time to time. Always feel free to check out online reviews of the latest models on websites such as Amazon.com before making a choice. User reviews are known to be trustworthy.  You may feel the need to purchase the largest extinguisher on the market but also remember you will need  to utilize the extinguisher effectively as well.

Using The Extinguisher

Lets put out our first fire. No, seriously. Ask yourself or your spouse if they have ever actually used a fire extinguisher on a fire before?  Chances are that you have not.  Even if you have, how long has it been? It is good practice and something the average Joe usually does not make time for. Young teens should be involved as well.  The extinguisher is only as good as the person operating it so maybe it is time for a well controlled practice run.

Pick a safe location such as a backyard fire pit or a sandbox far away from anything else. Once you are positive that area is safe build a controlled fire within your extinguishers capability to extinguish. Most workplaces have the OSHA placard posted in plain sight somewhere for its workers to see.  Its called PASS. This method is the standard method not only for the workplace and firefighters but also for you at home.

PASS
P- Pull the pin. (This will break the tamper seal)
A- Aim at the base of the fire.
S- Squeeze the trigger.
S- Sweep from side to side.

Now have at it. Give each member of your family a practice turn at extinguishing the fire.

Escape Ladders

There may be a time when an upstairs bedroom has only one exit and it is not the bedroom door. Depending on the layout of your house an upstairs bedroom window may provide direct access to the roof which may enable you or a family member easy access to exiting the home as an instant fire escape. Your homes bedrooms however may not have rooftop access or the roof may be too high to hang and drop from.  If so you will need to have an escape ladder readily available in each room. Escape ladders  must reach the ground as well as support multiple people at once. Also it should be easily used by whomever is sleeping in that room.  Do not underestimate the need for the ladder to be easily accessed. What good is it if its lost underneath a child’s bed or buried somewhere in a closet?

The window should be easily opened by the people who sleep in the rooms. If its a childs

room then the child should be able to open the window and deploy the escape ladder unassisted.  Otherwise what good is it? With that in mind you should also check your windows periodically to ensure ease of opening.  If for some reason the window can not be opened a new set of dangers occur. Breaking the glass of the window and attempting to climb through can be very dangerous, especially in distress.

Lastly your family should routinely practice what ever methods of escape they wish to use. You are never too old fire a good old fashioned fire drill.

Carbon Monoxide Alarms

You can’t see it, taste it or smell it but it can easily kill you. Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a deadly gas produced by burning fuels such as oil, kerosene, coal and even wood improperly.  Having at least one CO detector in your home is a smart safeguard. Fireplaces, grills, furnaces and hot water heaters (amongst many others) all produce CO. If equipment is used properly CO will not build up and reach out to your family. A few pointers are listed below.

DO NOT

1. Use portable camping equipment indoors.

2. Heat your home with gas appliances.

3. Burn Charcoal indoors.

4. Leave your vehicle running in the garage.

CO poisoning kills 200 people a year in the United States. While the numbers appear low they should be much  lower still.

Symptoms include: Headache, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, light headedness.

If you experience ANY of these symptoms while operating fuel burning equipment or appliances immediately seek fresh air and call the local fire department.

CO detectors are inexpensive and low maintenance so there is no excuse for not having one if your home. Hardwiring a CO detector is a fine choice but bear in mind that when the power goes down if your CO detector isn’t running on a backup battery it shuts down. This time more than any people should be replying on a CO detector to protect as people tend to use items such as space heaters, generators and grills more so during a power outage. Items such as these create carbon monoxide. Figure out where your CO risks reside (near the furnace or garage) and place CO detectors nearby. As always check product reviews before buying online. Keep the independent reviews in mind also. It would serve well to purchase a detector with a display that not only indicates the current CO level but also the highest level produced before its last reset.

Cover image author: Don O’Brien