Fire Prevention Tips on How to Safeguard your Family

Fire Prevention Tips on How to Safeguard your Family

A house fire would be anybody’s worst nightmare for them and their family. I know for sure that this would be the most traumatic and devastating experience if it were to happen in my home.

It’s extremely important for all of us mummies to learn different ways to help prevent fires and for us to be prepared to keep ourselves and our families safe during the event of a fire. In this post, I will be sharing what you can do to keep you and your children safe, from my personal experience.

Did you know that if a fire starts in your home, you may have just as little as two minutes to safely escape? On the Humberside Fire & Rescue website, it states what exactly you and your family can do in the event of a fire.

If you discover a fire or if your smoke alarm goes off:

• Do not spend time trying to save valuables – yes, valuables can mean a lot to us, but your life is way more important! Any form of delay during a fire could cost you your life.
• Don’t investigate the fire – this will lessen the time that you’ll have to escape in the safest way possible.
• Feel the doors with the back of your hand before you open them, if they’re warm, don’t open them – the fire is on the other side.
• If the area you’re in is filled with smoke, crawl on the floor – the air is cleaner near the floor. When on the floor, put your nose as low as possible as the smoke is highly toxic and can kill you.
• Use a family escape plan to get everyone out of the house as safely and quickly as possible.

As I read on Safety.com, home fires are not 100 percent preventable, unfortunately. But there are necessary tips you can take to reduce the risk of home fires, such as the use of fire safety equipment. Installing the right fire safety equipment in your home is crucial and can help prevent you from ever having to go through an experience as petrifying as this.

A few months back, there was a house fire at a pensioner’s residence near my house, as he had forgotten his food in a pan overnight which was still cooking. A fire ignited which resulted in his house burning down to absolutely nothing, and him unfortunately passing away due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Having a tragedy like this happen quite close to my home left me absolutely terrified for mine and my daughter’s safety. I became so adamant on “fire-proofing” my house and following as many fire preventing tips as I physically could, making sure that I took extra precaution with all common causes of house fires, including unattended cooking equipment, smoking in bedrooms, overused or faulty electrical equipment, and forgotten candles.

Left terror-stricken after the tragedy, I decided to browse through Google in the hopes to find something, more so, anything, that could protect my home from a fire. I browsed through many different sites and products until eventually I stumbled across an online company called Ironmongery Experts, a provider of fire safety equipment and ironmongery architecture. Eager to know which equipment I needed in my house, I decided to give their team a call for some guidance and advice on which products I should invest my money in, and I honestly do not have one bad word to say about their service or the quality of their products! Their team was extremely helpful and super friendly; I couldn’t have asked for better.

While talking to a member of their team after explaining the situation to them, they recommended many of their products that would ensure mine and my daughter’s safety during a fire, one them being their fire and smoke seals. This product can be installed in any property (I currently have them installed on my kitchen, bedroom and living room doors!) and prevent the spread of fire and smoke within the building once exposed to extreme heat.

Within their range of fire prevention products, they also have a device called Union black DoorSense fire door retainer. This product is able to hold fire doors open and automatically close them upon the sound of a fire alarm.

It’s a known fact that the majority of home fires occur at night when people are sleeping – which is why it’s vital to install smoke alarms on every floor of your home. This is something that I now have done. Maintaining all of the smoke alarms in your home is indispensable; you should test your alarms on a monthly basis and replace their batteries every six months, to ensure that they work – most smoke alarm failures occur because of missing or dead batteries, so don’t be lazy to check and replace them!

The outbreak of a fire is likely to cause damage to us if we don’t get out of the house quickly enough. The spreading of harmful smoke and toxins is very dangerous when inhaled, especially for younger children whose lungs aren’t fully developed. If a fire ever occurs in your home, get out, stay out and call for help. Never go back inside for anything or anyone – a number one tip from the Red Cross that I abide by without any hesitations.

Home fires can swiftly spread, every second is crucial – it’s our lives that are at stake. Establishing an escape plan that gets you out of your home in less than two minutes is critical for your family’s safety. You should be practicing that safety plan at least twice a year, especially when you have young children. I created my own fire escape plan for my daughter and I six months ago, and I intend to practice it with her at least three times a year. So far, she entirely follows the escape plan and gets excited about the idea of running out of the house!

Hopefully some of my experience and newly-gained knowledge can help you to safeguard your family and to help prevent a fire from ever occurring in your home. Thank you for reading this article, I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful!

Guest Article.