Fire prevention week open house to be held Oct. 15
On average, seven people die in home fires every day. In 2009, U.S. fire departments responded to 362,500 home structure fires causing 12,650 civilian injuries, 2,565 civilian deaths and $7.6 billion in direct damage.
“Nearly all of these deaths could have been prevented by taking a few simple precautions like having working smoke alarms and a home fire escape plan, keeping things that can burn away from the stove and always turning off space heaters before going to bed,” says Bryan G. Riebe, chief of Glassy Mountain Fire Department (GMFD). “Fire is a dangerous opponent, but by anticipating the hazards, you are much less likely to be one of the nearly 13,000 people injured in home fires each year.”
GMFD offers the following tips to protect your family from fire:
• Stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling or broiling food. If you leave the kitchen for even a short period of time, turn off the stove.
• Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment, like the furnace, fireplace, wood stove or portable space heater.
• Have a three-foot “kid-free zone” around open fires and space heaters.
• Replace or repair damaged or loose electrical cords.
• If you smoke, smoke outside. Use deep, wide ashtrays on a sturdy table.
“While preventing home fires is always our number one priority, it is not always possible,” Riebe said. “Our residents need to provide the best protection to keep their homes and families safe in the event of a fire. This can be achieved by developing an escape plan which you practice regularly and equipping homes with life-saving technologies like smoke alarms, fire detectors and home fire sprinklers.”
The following tips will help keep families safe in case of a fire:
• Install smoke alarms inside each bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home (including the basement).
• Interconnect all smoke alarms in the home so when one sounds, they all sound.
• Test smoke alarms at least monthly and replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old, or sooner if they do not respond when tested.
• Make sure everyone in your home knows how to respond if the smoke alarm sounds.
• Pull together everyone in the household and make a plan. Walk through your home and inspect all possible ways out. Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.
• If you are building or remodeling your home, consider installing home fire sprinklers.
Glassy Mountain Fire Department will host an open house at 2011 Hwy. 11, Landrum, on Saturday, Oct. 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for fire prevention week.
All are invited to participate in the educational, family-oriented activities, including the Scotty Fire Safety House, a hands-on learning tool to teach people of all ages what to do in the event of a fire.
In addition, CVS will hold a flu shot clinic from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the fire station.
For more information on protecting your family from fire, visit www.firepreventionweek.org.
– article submitted
by Chief Bryan G. Riebe