It has been a sad week. A family of three in my neighborhood lost their lives in a tragic house fire.

From what I have heard, their deaths should have been preventable, but something happened that night that kept them from getting out of the home.

The one positive from this tragedy is how neighbors have come together to help the family’s relatives and the firefighters who responded to the fire. Tonight, one family opened their home to area homeowners and their children (nearly 100 people RSVP’d) for a fire safety and prevention presentation given by Dallas Fire & Rescue.

The fire department brought several educational materials, but the speaker focused primarily on a home fire safety checklist, which I have re-typed below.

You should be able to answer “yes” to each of these items:

1. Address numbers visible from the street
2. Properly installed and operable smoke alarm(s).
3. All sleeping rooms have two accessible escape routes (remove any barriers to windows like furniture)
4. Family has an evacuation plan for emergencies.
5. Fire drills are conducted at regular intervals.
6. Burglar bars are openable from the inside without a key.
7. Electrical equipment and wiring appears in good condition.
8. Use of extension cords is limited and in an approved manner (i.e. not under rugs, over nails or overloaded).
9. Matches and lighters are kept in a secured place and out of reach of children.
10. Kitchen appliances / vent-a-hood free of grease accumulation.
11. Kitchen vent-a-hood is vented to the outside.
12. Gas water heaters vented to the outside and equipped with safety relief valve.
13. Combustibles placed/stored in a safe location, separated from combustible storage.
14. Flammable liquids stored in a safe location, separated from combustible storage.
15. Heating and air conditioning filter clean.
16. Premises free of excessive rubbish and combustible storage.
17. Fire extinguisher available, and responsible person knows how to properly operate it.

Other information from the meeting worth sharing includes:

- If you hear a smoke detector going off, roll out of your bed and stay on the floor. Crawl to the door to check if it’s hot. Do not stand up. If the door is hot, or you see flames, do not open it. If cool or warm, carefully check to see if you can determine the status of the fire and leave the house if it is safe to do so.

- Plan multiple evacuation plans with your family - a primary and back-ups - and designate a family meet-up spot so no one tries to re-enter the home to look for missing family members.

- If you buy a fire ladder, check to make sure it’s not a “one time use” ladder. If it is, you cannot practice evacuating as you will have to throw it away.

- Use surge protectors instead of extension cords.

- There are all-in-one detectors that will cover heat, smoke and carbon monoxide, so you don’t have to necessarily buy one of each.

- Fire extinguishers have three codes:
A = for fires that cause ashes (i.e. wood, paper, plastic)
B = for fires with flammable liquids
C = for electrical fires

- You can get fire extinguishers that will work on all three (A, B, C). Check your extinguisher(s) at least once a year and the fire department rep recommended changing them every year.

- Keep a phone in each sleeping room

- Put a sensor in your attic that detects a rapid rise in temperature.

- Get detectors (smoke, heat, carbon monoxide) that talk to each other so if one goes off, they all go off.

- Get your detectors monitored by your home security company so even if you are unable to call 911, the security company will.

- Only use extension cords that are UL listed for outdoor use if you put up lights during the holidays.

- Have your chimney inspected once a year before the first time you use during cold weather.

- Lint back-up in your dryer tubing can cause a fire. Be sure to thoroughly clean it at least once a year.

- If you live in an older home (built prior to the early 1980s), check your electrical panel/circuit breaker to see if it has any of these names on it:

* Federal Pacific Electric
* FPE
* Stab-Lok
* FPE-Stab-lok
* Federal Electric
* Federal NOARC
* Federal Pioneer

They are known to be defective and cause house fires. The majority of homes in my area of Dallas have this brand in their home, but I believe this brand was also used in other parts of the U.S.

If you have one of the panel names listed, consult with an electrician. I have heard it will cost around $900-$1500 to change one (some homes have more than one), but that’s nothing compared to what a house fire could cost you. Also, if you have one in a closet, make sure clothes are not up against it.

More information about this brand of circuit breaker can be found at http://www.inspectapedia.com/fpe/fpeid.htm.

Freebie for Dallas Residents
If you live within the City of Dallas, Dallas Fire & Rescue will install FREE smoke detectors (as many as you need) at no cost! They contain lithium batteries that are supposed to last 7-10 years and are supposed to beep when you need to change them.

I do not think they are the kind that communicate with each other, but they’re free and better than having outdated detectors, or none at all. Call 3-1-1 to inquire about this program.

If you don’t live in Dallas, you might want to check your city/town’s fire department Web site to see if they offer anything comparable.

More Information (PDF documents)

– Good information about smoke detectors such as they need to be replaced every 10 years (I think mine are probably original to the home, which was built almost 30 years ago).

– Fire Safety Tips for your Family

The upcoming holidays bring an increased house fire risk (tree lights, dried out trees, house lights, burning candles, etc.). Please take a few moments to print this checklist, test your detectors and evaluate (or even better practice) your family’s evacuation plan(s) in case of a fire.

We lost a great family on November 12. Let’s try to keep this from happening to anyone else! Please share this information with family and friends.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 11:52 pm and is filed under Freebies, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.