House fires can destroy your home and pose a risk to life. Therefore, it is essential to take every step to help prevent a fire from breaking out in your home. Here are some ways to decrease the danger that fires pose.
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Check Fire Alarms
One of the simplest steps to mitigating the potential damage is to ensure that your fire alarms are all in working order. Despite the ease of doing this, it is often neglected. To test the alarms, press the little button on them. If they don’t beep or beep weakly, then you need to change the batteries immediately.
Consider Your Lighting
While some forms of lighting are obvious fire hazards (like candles), it is less well known that filament light bulbs can also be responsible for fires in homes. Leaving lights on too often can lead to them or the wiring in your house igniting. It is vital to turn the lights off when you are not using them to avoid this.
You could also consider changing the bulbs in your home. Switching to lights that run colder than incandescent bulbs, like these LED bulbs from Any Lamp, can significantly decrease the likelihood of your light fittings catching fire.
Maintain Your Dryer
Clothes dryers are a leading cause of house fires. Therefore, it is vital to have the state of your dryer assessed by a professional at least once a year. Doing so will allow you to get any repair work done or throw out a dangerous appliance that could otherwise lead to a fire.
Additionally, you need to clean out the lint filter regularly. It is essential to remove the tiny fibres that accumulate here as they can easily ignite from the heat generated by the appliance. Cleaning this out as often as possible minimises this risk.
Don’t Leave the Kitchen While Cooking
A momentary distraction that takes your attention away from the stove or oven is all it takes for a fire to break out. You should exercise caution while cooking, especially if you are doing anything that involves deep frying.
When cooking with hot oil, you should never leave the kitchen, as it can easily cause a blaze in the kitchen. In general, if you leave the kitchen for any reason while something is cooking, you should turn off all of the hobs to mitigate the risk of a fire starting.
Make Room for Fire Extinguishers
Even if you take every possible precaution, it is almost impossible to remove every fire hazard from your home. Therefore, you should also have methods of extinguishing fire around the house, so you can prevent a blaze from becoming life-threatening. Placing fire extinguishers and blankets around your home so they can be found easily, should a fire break out, is the best way to deal with this problem.
Prevent Fire, Save Lives
Not only can fires cause irreparable damage to your home and its contents, but they can also cause serious harm to the people within it. Taking action to make fires less likely in your abode and ensuring you have planned what to do if one does break out is the best way to protect your loved ones and your possessions.