Fire Safety and Prevention Tips with First Alert
Thank you First Alert for sponsoring this post. October is Fire Prevention Month! Help ensure your home and family are ready for the unexpected by installing smoke & CO alarms and having fire extinguishers!
With our busy lives, it may be easy to let discussions about fire safety take a back seat. But fire safety is an important topic and should be talked about on a regular basis.
October is National Fire Prevention Month and this fall weather is the perfect time to snuggle together as a family and talk about fire safety. You can review your family’s fire safety checklist and ensure that your whole house is protected by installing alarms and having fire extinguishers within reach.
Read on to see what to include in your fire safety checklist and how to make sure your whole home is protected!
Fire Safety Checklist
When was the last time you took inventory of your safety products? Did you know that smoke and carbon monoxide alarms need to be tested regularly, at least every 6 months and replaced at least every 10 years?
It’s okay if you didn’t! I didn’t either and I totally get it. Between work, kids’ activities, and normal family life, I didn’t even know when our smoke alarms were last tested. 😬
A fire safety checklist ensures that your family is always ready for the unexpected. Here are things to include on your fire safety checklist.
1. Install smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms on every level and in every bedroom of your home.
An easy way to remember where to install alarms is “every level, every bedroom”.
*Note that alarms don’t last forever and should be replaced every 10 years.
2. Test your alarms regularly.
3. Change the batteries in your alarms at least every six months.
To help you remember to change the batteries every six months, you can set a calendar reminder or change them with every daylight savings time (unless you’re in a state that doesn’t observe the time changes). For even better convenience, upgrade to 10-year sealed battery alarms and you won’t have to remember battery changes at all!
4. Plan and practice your emergency escape plan at least twice a year.
This step is especially important when you have young children! Whenever you have nice weather in the spring and fall, practice an emergency escape plan and ensure that every family member is aware of the steps.
Plan two ways out of each room and area of your home. Plan for a meeting spot that is a safe distance from your home, such as a mailbox or neighbor’s home, etc. Once out of your home, stay out and call 911 when you are at your family’s meeting spot.
As you complete items on the fire safety checklist, check them off! So satisfying, right?
Download your own checklist here and you’ll also find other fire safety tips and an emergency escape planning worksheet.
Did you know that 3 out of 5 home fires deaths occur in homes with no smoke alarms? Ensure you add protection and test your alarms regularly. Ensure you do not remove your alarms or remove the batteries without replacing them.
Fire Prevention with Fire Extinguishers
Now that you have a fire safety checklist and everybody in your family is on board, it’s time to talk about fire extinguishers. Believe it or not, fire extinguishers are easily overlooked as necessities in the home.
But fire extinguishers should be placed on every level of the home, especially in common places like the kitchen, laundry room, garage, or by the grill. The #1 cause of fires is unattended cooking, so it’s especially important to have a fire extinguisher close by.
While it’s important to have fire extinguishers in your home, it’s even more important to know how to use them! An easy way to remember how to use a fire extinguisher is with the acronym P.A.S.S.
To make it even easier to protect your whole house in the event of a fire, First Alert fire extinguishers and other fire safety products can be found at Lowe’s. You’ll see that we are using the First Alert Home Fire Extinguisher. I especially like it because it’s lightweight and rechargeable.
How Our Family Does Fire Safety
Fire safety and prevention is a very important topic for families to discuss. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make it fun! Now that Remy is 3 years old, we included him in our most recent fire safety talk. He helped us review the fire safety checklist and used his counting skills to make sure we have smoke and CO alarms on every level and in every bedroom. Remy also counted the number of fire extinguishers we have in and around the house.
After confirming that our whole house was protected, Remy received his Junior Fire Marshal badge and he wore it with pride! We even printed out coloring and activity sheets found on the First Alert website here!
As you are celebrating the month of October, don’t forget about Fire Prevention Month! So snuggle up with your family with some apple cider and talk fire safety!
