Over 60,000 homes are affected by fire in the UK every year, this results in over 400 deaths and 12,000 injuries. Sadly, many of these incidents could have been avoided if homeowners had taken simple fire safety measures. We’ve highlighted a few suggestions to keep your home safe from fire in this blog, please use this advice with our blessing.
- Install smoke alarms: Have at least two smoke alarms in your property, one on the ground level and one on every other level of your property. Check these alarms once a week; push the ‘test’ button and wait for the bleep.
- Take care with candles: Never leave candles burning unsupervised, especially if you have small children or pets in the home that could try to ‘investigate’ the naked flame.
- Move matches to safe places: Place matches or lighters in hard to reach places if there are children in the house, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
- Don’t smoke in bed or when you feel tired: If you drop off you might drop the lit cigarette straight onto a combustible material. It’s best to stub it out early; don’t take the chance, it’s simply not worth it.
- Watch chip pans: If you are cooking with hot oil always monitor the pan, don’t turn the heat too high and if a fire breaks out, don’t try to move the pan, use a damp tea towel to smother the flames.
- Be careful with portable heaters: Never put heaters too close to clothing or combustible materials, make sure they are surefooted and won’t tip over too.
- Have an escape plan: Plot your escape route from the property in the event of a blaze, go through this emergency exit plan with all the family members and have regular practice runs.