House Fire Basics
A Prepper’s home is his castle and in many cases it is also one of the main locations that is fully stocked and outfitted for all types of disasters. But have you prepared your home for the number one & most realistic threat to residential homes in America? Fire. Protecting your family from home fires is essential and many people know the basics of how to ensure that their homes are safe. Yet, thousands of home fires claim lives and property every year in the United States so it is important that you know not only the basics but more detailed actions that you can take to protect your home and family.
The very first thing that you should do to cover the basics is of course have at least one fire extinguisher on each level of the home. Also make sure you have fire and smoke detectors placed throughout the home in accordance with the building codes in your area. Beyond that is to have a monitored alarm system installed. Next make sure to have an emergency egress ladder for each bedroom on the second floors. Be sure to check that all windows are function and that the occupant of each room can open them if they are old enough.
Whether you are using traditional smoke alarms or a more advanced system, early warning is the best way to ensure that your home and family are protected. There are a number of systems on the market today that are very affordable and will help you to ensure that you know early on if a fire has started in your home. Some of these systems will alert not only you and your family but the fire department in your area as well. Early detection is crucial in protecting your loved ones and a monitored home security system can be one of the best things that you can do for your home and family.
If and when a fire is detected in your home, it is imperative that you try to remain calm so that you can get everyone out of the house. Family planning is important where home fires are concerned. You should have planned an escape route and everyone in your home should be aware of this route so that they can get outdoors as quickly and as easily as possible. The best way to practice this plan is an unannounced fire drill in the middle of the night. There is no substitute for realistic training!
While exiting the home it is also important that you try to breathe in as little smoke as possible. Many deaths that result from home fires are actually caused by smoke inhalation. This smoke can be toxic and can cause you to quickly become disoriented. If there is heavy smoke, stay close to the floor. Crawl to your exit if possible and hold your shirt or another piece of fabric over your mouth and nose while doing so. There are many different brands of fire escape & smoke inhalation prevention products available to reduce your chances of smoke inhalation as well. Again training with the product is important and should not be overlooked.
If you find that your escape routes are blocked by flames or smoke, get everyone in the home to one room and stick together. Choose a room that has a window if possible so that you can open the window in order to call for help or at the very least, in order to keep cleaner air accessible while help arrives. If you can crawl through the window, do so (Use the egress ladder discussed above as well). Close the door to the room and seal the gap under the door with fabric of some sort. Using curtains, bedding or anything that you can do keep the smoke from entering that room. A roll of extra wide Gorilla Duct tape stored in each bedroom closet will also help make sealing the door off quick and easy.
If you have a home alarm system with monitoring, your local fire department will be alerted of the fire and help should be on its way. Remember to keep everyone together until help arrives if you are unable to exit the home. This cuts down on the Fire Fighters search time and makes rescue for all much more likely. When you see the fire department arrive make sure to make plenty of noise and do your best to get their attention so they know exactly where you are at. In these situations, it is always a good idea to have a system that provides monitoring. If a fire is detected and the monitoring service is alerted, they will attempt to contact you at your home. If you are unable to answer the phone, the fire department will be alerted, which can save valuable time and help you to ensure that your family receives help quickly.
Guest Author’s Bio: Zions Security services many western states including Los Angeles, California. Visit the site here- http://www.zionssecurity.com/Los%20Angeles.html
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Yes, very good information. I (as a bachelor a few years back) had a house fire and here is my story and main tip for those guys out there that live the single life – DO NOT store cooking sprays, Crisco, cooking oils or any other type of cooking fuels above the stove in the small cupboard including spices and zippo lighter fluid.
I had placed 4 tbls of oil in a pan on my stove top, set to med heat getting ready to fry some shrimp. I walked out of my kitchen thru my living room to the front door and went and grabbed my mail, during this process, my stove top burner shorted out and blew a hole through the pan and lit my kitchen up. I had stopped to read the mail (maybe 60 seconds had passed) when I came back in all the lights and tv was off, I thought the power had went out, then I smelled smoke and saw flickering coming from the kitchen. to make a long story short, it had already burned up most of the wall, cupboards and through the ceiling, into the rafters and now was billowing black smoke, I tried to put it out but to no avail, after all was said and done, $63,000 in damage had been done.
The heat from the flames under that cabinet had broke the glass bottles of cooking oils, lit the can of crisco and it was all feeding the fire by dripping into it, then the lighter fluid (zippo) can popped and made it ten times worse.
It was no fun and I don’t wish it upon anyone. I spent 4 months living in a hotel while my home was being repaired. it SUCKED to say the least but I learned a valuable lesson. Talk about living Real Urban Survival
Some good information. The most important is having a plan in place prior. My wife awoke early in the morning of January 6th 2011 to see a flickering outside our bedroom window. She woke me, and peeking out the window, I told her to get our daughter up. I slipped on a pair of pants and stepped out onto the porch to see flames hitting the porch ceiling. I stepped back in the house and told both my wife and daughter to get out now. I went back to the bedroom to retrieve my cell, my wife followed to get some clothes. I reached to grab my dulcimer case setting on my dresser when the window behind me burst and I was flashed on the back. I left the dulcimer and stated heading to the door, telling my wife we had to get out now. I could see smoke starting to form at the ceiling. My wife behind me, I turned toward the door, and that is the last I remember except being hit in the back by another blast of heat, missing the last two steps off the porch and yelling to my wife “roll!”. I heard her yell then saw her headed into the yard. This all occurred in a 3-5 minute time span. Since the fire started on the outside from a heat lamp we placed to keep out pets warm, our smoke alarms never went off. My wife and I both suffered 3rd degree burns on the upper back, but our daughter escaped unharmed. None of us panicked. There was a sense of urgency, but not panic. Luckily I had been a volunteer firefighter years before, so I knew the signs of a fire increasing in danger. It was also lucky that we came out unclothed (at least on top), as had we suffered the same burns with cloths on, our injuries would have been worse from the fabric intermingling with the wounds.
At our current home, we keep an escape ladder by the upstairs windows along with a short fire axe should the window need breaking. Fire extinguishers are at hand.
It must be absolutely terrifying having children in a house that’s on fire. I’d be a bit worried about keeping my cool, but these are definitely great tips.
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House Fire Basics
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