Thoughts of your house bursting into flames, incinerating everything you love keeping you up at night? While there’s no foolproof way to make sure you never have to deal with a house fire, there are an abundance of house fire prevention steps you can take to give you more favorable odds.
But what are these techniques, and how can you implement them?
Funny, you should ask because that’s where we enter the picture. With this list of the top 5 effective tips on how to prevent house fires, you’ll be able to rest easy in no time!
But enough banter! Let’s get into this thing.
1. Preventing a Fire Starts with Your Space Heater
A 2021 study shows that one of the main causes of house fires in the U.S was space heaters, as the heaters can malfunction and heat nearby flammable objects (think bedsheets or piles of clothes). To avoid joining this statistic, make sure to keep your heater maintained and move any objects that could catch fire away from the heater.
You should also do your best to stick with newer models of space heaters when looking to purchase one for your home. Older heaters can break down and lack some of the safety functionality their newer brethren have, putting them at greater risk of sparking a house fire.
2. Knowledge is Power
Another great way to prevent house fires is to make sure everyone in the house knows how to prevent a fire and what the family emergency plan is in the event of a fire. This helps reduce risk by ensuring the steps you take to prevent house fires aren’t undone by your 10-year-old who doesn’t know any better.
Having a tight emergency plan also helps your family react quickly and safely in the event of a fire, lowering the chance of injury or death.
3. Maintain Smoke Detectors
To stay ahead of house fires, it’s critical you know when they start before they grow out of control. This means you need your smoke detectors to be at full power, so swap your batteries out every 6 months and buy a brand-new alarm every 9-10 years to decrease the chance of mechanical failure.
4. Scan Through All Your Wires
Make sure to go through your house and check all your electronics for broken or frayed wires. Uncovered wires can release sparks that start fires and pose electrocution risks too.
You should also unplug all your appliances when not in use, as some electricity will still flow through the outlet even if the appliance isn’t on as long as it’s plugged in. Keep an eye on pets, too, as cats and dogs can chew on wires and fray them if unsupervised.
5. Laundry – The Secret Firestarter
Finally, you’ll want to crack open your dryer and take a look at the vent. You’ll want to clean out the vent and lint filter to prevent blockage and heat buildup, which can turn into a fire.
If you have difficulty doing it from home, consider contracting out to get a professional dryer vent cleaning and keep your house safe.
A New Expert on How to Prevent House Fires
With this guide on how to prevent house fires, the expertise is now in your hands to keep your home and loved ones from the threat of a blazing inferno.
Of course, that could still leave you with some questions. What do you do after a fire? How do you put out certain types of fires?
Well, the answers to these questions lie in the other articles on our website! Hop on by and give them a read!
