What You Should Know About Fire Safety and Your Home

By: Alicia Schuller, Marketing Coordinator, NHS of Baltimore

Unless you’re a firefighter, fire safety probably doesn’t cross your mind all that often. You might think about it a little more if you live in a row house or apartment complex. Either way, it is important to have at least basic knowledge about fire prevention and how you can equip your home to make it safer for you and your family.

If you’re like me, you probably try to exercise the utmost caution when engaging in activities that could obviously start a fire; such as lighting candles and stringing holiday lights. What you probably don’t know is that the three most common causes of household fires are actually things we take for granted and think less about- cooking, using woodstoves/ space heaters and smoking.

Fires can catch you off guard and happen when you least expect. By being more vigilant and aware of the causes of household fires, you will be able to avoid them and know what to do if one starts. BeFireSmart.com offers these simple tips to preventing a fire. For a complete checklist of fire hazards in every room of the house, click here.

1. Never walk away from your stove or oven when in use
2. Keep the area around your space heater free and clear of debris and turn it
off while your sleeping
3. Never smoke in bed
4. Never use candles in your bedroom
5. Do not overload electrical outlets

If you live in a row house, fireproofing your home is key. Most row houses are made of brick, which acts as a firewall by nature. However, most roves are still made of wood, and because of this, fires spread most quickly across row houses by their roves. The best way to keep the fire from moving to your roof and down into your home is to install fireproof insulation. Most homes built before the 1970’s do not have fireproof insulation. If you do not know whether your home has it, NHS of Baltimore recommends you get in touch with a local inspector to find out.

While there is no fail safe way to protect your home from fire, there are many things you can do to slow the spread of it. In the words of Smokey the Bear, “Only you can prevent fire!”