(BPT) – As spring fever begins to take hold, it is important to seize the opportunity to do more than cleaning around your home. The change of the season marks the perfect time to evaluate your home’s fire safety quotient and make necessary updates to ensure you are prepared!
Follow these three fire safety tips:
Maintain your smoke alarms: Just like your other appliances, smoke alarms need proper maintenance! Keeping your alarms in proper working order helps to make sure they work in case of a fire. Spring is the perfect time to test smoke alarms and check the expiration date. Always replace dead batteries and expired alarms (most alarms are designed to last for 10 years).
If you’re looking to simplify the smoke alarm maintenance process, consider installing alarms with 10-year sealed batteries such as the Kidde Worry-Free combo smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. This type of smoke alarm doesn’t require battery replacement and takes the guesswork out of determining the age of an alarm. The alarm will simply start chirping when it’s time to replace it.
Equip your home and especially your kitchen with a fire extinguisher: Cooking has been the leading cause of home fires since 1990, notes the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Always stay in the kitchen when using the stovetop, and when using the oven, check foods regularly. In the event of a kitchen fire, it’s important to have a fire extinguisher within reach. The Kidde RESSP kitchen fire extinguisher is the only specialty fire extinguisher certified by UL (a leading global safety science organization) to meet their 711A standard — designed and tested to safely and effectively put out residential cooking fires. The extinguisher’s unique nozzle delivers a high volume of fire-fighting agent at a low velocity to effectively extinguish common kitchen oil fires without splashing the oil.
For the rest of your home, the NFPA recommends an extinguisher in your garage, and at least one on every level of your home.
Create a fire escape plan: Your ability to safely escape a home fire depends not only on advance warning from smoke alarms, but also advance planning. During a fire, you have little time to get out of your home. Create a fire escape plan with input from everyone in your household. Walk through your home and inspect possible exits and escape routes. As you walk through your plan, check to make sure the escape routes are clear and doors and windows can be opened easily. For two-story or greater homes, don’t forget an escape ladder.
