Fire Protection at Your Home
- , by Trudy Chuoke Trudy Chuoke
October is widely recognized in the United States as Fire Protection Month. It's dedicated to fire safety education and smoke alarm checks. And like you, I wondered if it’s just a date that they said – hey, we aren’t doing anything else the first of October; let’s dedicate it to fire safety and then all the heads in the room nodded yes. But that’s not why; there is some real history. The Great Chicago Fire started on October 8th (hey, that’s my birthday) back in 1871. It destroyed 17,000 buildings, killed about 300 people, and left over 100,000 people homeless. The damage was estimated at 200,000 million, which is about 4 billion today. It’s rumored to have started with a cow that kicked over a lantern, because it started in a barn, but it could have been just human negligence. Add in the months of drought and all the wooden buildings, and the devastation is no surprise. In Alpine (where my daughter lives), a fire in the downtown area swept through several buildings before they could stop it because it traveled through the basements.
So, knowing all this, here are some ways you can prevent a fire from causing traumatic damage to your home. Smoke alarms. Smoke alarms are designed to provide early protection in homes. But how many of you have had a smoke alarm start chirping in the middle of the night because the battery is low? Trying to sleep through that is impossible, and many people will just pull it down to get through the night, promising themselves they'll get batteries the next day. But having a battery-powered smoke alarm is so very important. Always keep extra batteries around, and when one alarm starts chirping, replace the battery in all the others in the house. Battery Smoke Alarms are good for older homes and areas without wiring. I like to look for smoke alarms with a 10-year sealed battery. With those alarms, you do not replace the battery. I like a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm like the First Alert SMC0210, which should retail for under $60. First Alert makes a simple smoke-only alarm that you can buy for around $20.00. It has a panel that lets you easily access and replace the battery. It has an end-of-life alarm that warns you to replace the battery. So you can see you can get smoke alarms at all price points. Just remember to get one.
Kitchen fires account for 48% of home fires. And most of those are cooking fires. And a good item to have in your kitchen is an Emergency Fire Blanket. I looked up who invented fire blankets, and surprisingly, no one really did. Fire blankets began with ancient fire-smothering methods. Blankets, especially wool, were found to smother fires without catching fire. The idea behind a fire blanket is to cut off a fire's oxygen. By 1960, fire blankets were made with glass fiber, Kevlar, or wool. I like Premium Defense or Over and Out brand of fire blankets. They are one-time-use products. Keep them in the kitchen, and you can keep one in the den if you have a fireplace. They weigh about a pound, and they are simple to use. Attach it to the back of the cabinet. Two straps are attached to the blanket, and if there is a fire on the stove, you pull on the straps to release the blanket. Drape the blanket over the flaming pan, and it will quickly snuff out the fire. The pan might smoke, but that will stop once it cools. After it cools, take it outside so your home doesn’t smell smoky.
If you would also like a convenient fire extinguisher, let me suggest Fire Gone. It’s a 16 oz size that works on grease, electrical, wood, paper, and fabric. It’s fluorine-free, so cleanup is quick and water-based. You can safely spray from up to 6 ft. away. It’s a simple trigger discharge. And it’s completely safe for indoor use. You can keep one in the kitchen and one in the garage. I really like them because they are a good first-response tool for early-stage fires.
And if you do have a small kitchen fire and have that smoke smell in the home. Get two products: an Air Sponge for the odor in the air and Bio Zapp for spraying curtains, fabric sofas, and wiping down countertops. Both products are odor neutralizers and work very well. All the products I wrote about today are conveniently located on our website: www.happyhandyman.com, and can be shipped to you.