With the daylight becoming shorter and leaves taking a new form of green to orange, you’re preparing for the cold season and all the exciting festivities. But are you really prepared? Here are a few important fire safety tips to keep in mind:
Replace smoke/carbon detector batteries and test the alarms. It’s advisable to change your smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries when Daylight Savings Time begins and ends. This ensures the alarms don’t fail when you turn on the heat in your home. Once the batteries are changed don’t forget to test the smoke alarms. Ensure all the fire extinguishers are in working condition.
Before cranking up the heat, have your heating devices fully checked:
- Have a certified HVAC contractor inspect your HVAC system. Check and replace furnace filters with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters.
- Ensure sufficient space of at least three to four feet around space heaters. Don’t place fabrics on space heaters to dry, and turn heaters off every night before bed.
- Have a professional chimney sweep to inspect and clean your chimney. Keep flammable objects at least three feet away from the fireplace and install a mesh metal screen around it.
Halloween safety – Excited to decorate your home and mastermind scary costumes for Halloween? Don’t forget the safety aspects. Ensure considerable distance between decorations and open flames and other heat sources, and replace candles in jack-o-lanterns with battery-operated lights. We strongly advise you not to use real candles for decorating your home, but if you do, follow utmost care.
Outdoor fire risks – Periodically remove the leaves and other flammable debris that builds up around the house. Prune trees and rake up leaves and twigs. Avoid fuel storage in your home or garage. Clean your roof, gutters, and downspouts of debris and drain the fuel from lawn mowers before storing them for winter.
Formulate a fire escape plan and make sure everyone in the house is well aware of it. In case a fire breaks out at 2 AM and your smoke alarms wake you and your family up – what do you do? This is when the fire escape plan comes into play. Designate an escape route for each area of your home and establish a meeting place outside. Practice escaping your home while staying low to avoid breathing in smoke. Also, practice escaping through windows using emergency ladders.
We, at Bio Cleanse Services, have an expert team of fire damage restoration technicians. If you ever face a fire incident in your home/office, contact us on 0427 411 789 for property remediation.
