More than 50 people in Australia die in fires every year -- most of which are preventable, if the right precautions are taken. You can cut down the risks of fire by exercising good precautionary measures and safety habits. Remember prevention is best, but always keep functioning fire equipment in an accessible area, in case you need to put off an accidental fire in your home. Here are some actionable tips to undertake fire safety precautions in your home.
Watch Cooktops When Operating At All Times
Grease from unattended frying pans can easily catch fire and in turn will ignite combustible items like wooden cabinets, curtains, fabric and anything else in close vicinity. Cooking fires start purely because of negligence when utensils are left abandoned. If a fire starts in your kitchen, don't try to carry the pan outside -- the inflamed dripping grease can cause a full-scale fire throughout your house. Slide a lid over the flame from the side to control it. Be sure to have accessible fire equipment like extinguishers and blankets handy in the kitchen to take immediate action. As a rule of thumb, don't leave your kitchen unattended when your cooktop is operating.
Be Aware of Electrical Connections
Overloaded power sockets, burdened extension cords, faulty wires and bad connections can give rise to electrical fires and burn down your home. The heat generated by overloading and poor electrical connections is enough to ignite several combustibles around the home, including carpets, wood furniture and fabrics. While electrical hazards aren't easy to spot, look out for signs like warm electrical cords, burning odours or recurrently tripping circuit breakers. These signs usually indicate that an electrical fire is imminent. Be sure to get an electrician to fix faulty wires, tripping circuits or overloaded power sockets -- the price of an electrician is well worth it to prevent a full-scale fire from ruining your home.
Watch out for Candles and Smoking
Far too many fires start in a home because of unattended candles and ignited cigarette butts. Keep your candles away from combustible materials like curtains and furniture. Be sure to put your cigarette butts out before you go to sleep, because a smouldering cigarette end near your bedside or fallen on the carpet could easily start an unwanted fire as you sleep at night. Keep in mind that ignited butts fallen between trash cans, carpets and cushions will take hours to alight, but when they do, you'll be fast asleep and won't realise it -- making the situation considerably dangerous for you and your family.
While these preventable tips are extremely crucial to follow, you must always ensure that the fire equipment in your home is in proper working condition in case you need to extinguish an accidental fire. These tips can also be adapted to office spaces and other such buildings. In those cases, contact a company like The Fire Protection Specialist Company Pty Ltd to get evacuation plans, emergency equipment and the like into place.
