The United States witnesses more than 300,000 fires each year in the US. House fires are the worst nightmare to the homeowners and most of the house fires are preventable, unlike the natural disasters. To help any homeowner to reduce the risk of a house fire, we uploaded a list by which you could know how to prevent it.
Before you know how to prevent the fire, you should know about the common sources of the fire. Make yourself alert to check the smoke alarm and know the hazardous elements around your home, especially the surprising one.
1. Cooking equipment:
Cooking fire causes 9% of deaths and 23% of home fires. If you keep the greasy utensils unattended, the grease tends to catch fire and ignites the combustibles. If you count on the statistics, you would see one home out of every eight homes would catch fires. In most cases, the cooking fires start on the cooktop. After the first 15 minutes of cooking.
When the fire catches the equipment, never carry the greasy pan outside, just put a lid over the flames from the side to keep you safe from the burn. The grease fire can become full-scale house fire if you carry it through the house.
Solutions:
• Never leave the kitchen while cooking.
• Never keep the gas open after cooking.
• Keep the combustibles at least 3 ft away from the flame.
• Always of the gas cylinder after use.
2. Heating Equipment:
Because of the heating equipment, 15% house fires and 13% death happens. Wood stoves and space heater tends to set the near combustibles on fire. This often happens when the family members are asleep. If the heating equipment is not disposed of properly, the embers in the ashes can cause a fire even after two weeks. Chimney Creosote can cause a fire to the adjoining wall framing. If combustibles are located too close to the chimney or wood stove, that also can cause a fire.
Solutions:
• Always keep the space heaters at least 3 feet away from the bed sheet, drapes and other flammables.
• Always plug the space heater directly into the socket. Don’t use an extension cord.
• Never switch a space heater on before you sleep.
• Always inspect and clean your chimney every year.
• Keep the combustibles 5 ft away from the stove.
3. Electrical equipment:
Misuse of electrical equipment causes 10% of death and 9% of home fires. Overuse of extension cord, bad connection and other careless uses can make the insulation melt which in turn can ignite nearby combustibles and burn your house. When shorts, bad connection and overloading occur, the electrical equipment gets heated. Sometimes the electrical gets heated enough to get combustibles like wood framing, rugs and insulation on fire. You can spot some of the hazards very easily but there are many hazards which are pretty hard to tell.
You can spot some hazards by spotting-
• The heated electrical cords which are a sign of overloading.
• If you can spot plastic burning odor, there may be some oversized bulb and light fixtures.
• Warm switch means poor electric connection.
• Frequently tripping circuit breaker indicates a probable short in the cable buried in the wall.
Solutions:
• Remove the frayed and undersized extension cord.
• Never run extension cords under a rug.
• Plug electrical appliances directly to the wall socket.
• Always replace the smaller cords by an oversized cord.
• Appoint an electrician to track down the hidden problems.
• Tell the electrician to open the electrical boxes and identify the troubleshoot.
• Check all the light bulbs to check the bulb wattage.
4. Appliances:
Appliances like gas water heater and cloth dryer cause 7% of home fire and 4% death. As we place water heater in the same room with laundry, clothes gets piled up against it. Sometimes the flimsy plate of the water heater falls apart and the dryer vent catch the fire whenever as the lint and the built up dust ignites. The dryers which are vented with vinyl hose are the most dangerous as the vinyl catches fire and lights anything.
Solutions:
• Always clean the lint of the vent line.
• You can replace the vinyl vent lines with smooth metal ducts.
• Clean the lint of the interior of dryer cabinet and don’t forget to clean the drum.
• Make sure that the protective combustion chamber cover is in good condition.
• Keep the combustibles at least 3 ft away from the water heater and mark the area with masking tape.
5. Smoking:
The cigarette causes 5% home fires and 23% death by fire. It generally happens at night because people tend to fall asleep with a smoke on the bed which causes fire. When a cigarette smolders in the bed or drop in a carpet, a gas generates from the smoldering bed sheet and a carpet, which puts people in deeper sleep. Ignited cigarette butts which falls into the carpet or in between the cushion, takes hours to ignite, and this happens mostly when the whole family is asleep.
Solution:
• Never have a smoke in the bed.
• Use larger ashtray, and don’t forget to use it on the table.
• Soak the cigarette butts under the faucet before throwing it in the trashes.
6. Candles:
Most ignitions from the candle happen when people lit up a candle near some unattended combustibles. Sometimes people lights candle carelessly near the bed or on the carpet and then forget about it. Sometimes candles get soft and fall from the holder and ignite nearby combustibles.
Solutions:
• Light up a candle when you are awake.
• Keep an ignited candle 3 ft away from the combustibles.
• Use only tip-proof container.
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