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| A devastating home fire. |
There are many devices available to warn us of impending doom, some municipalities have enacted into law some of them. Two, smoke detectors, and CO2 detectors are the most common to be required. A loud fire alarm is a wise choice to make as well.
We will start with smoke detectors, for many years the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code have required as a minimum in each bedroom, or sleeping area have one detector installed inside the room. Requiring one outside each bedroom as well as on every level of the home. Depending upon the size of the residence more may be required, be sure to check with your local planning department. As of July 1, 1994 laws have made it mandatory for all residential properties to have the required number of smoke detectors installed. Rental units leased units, and apartments must have battery operated detectors, installed and maintained by the owners. Follow this Link to the United States Fire Administration State by State Residential Smoke Alarm Requirements.
This is where smoke detectors should be installed:
* One in every bedroom
* One in the hallways leading up to the bedrooms
* Install at least one on each level of the home
* Mount them on the ceiling 4 inches from the wall.
* If mounted on the walls they must be 4-12 inches from the ceiling.
* Avoid installing them close to drafts, windows, and vents.
Some smoke detectors have non-removable batteries designed to be serviceable for up to ten years, equipped with a "chirp" when the battery is low, replacement of the entire unit is required. Other detectors, and the ones most of us are familiar with come standard with a replaceable battery. Change the battery's each year, many people choose to do so on New Years Day, a handy reminder.
Testing of the detectors should be performed each month by holding down the "test" button, vacuuming them out is recommended. Dust, Cobwebs, and airborne debris will impair the sensitivity of the units, the painting over of them should never be done. Replace the smoke detectors every 10 years, marking the date of installation on the ceiling facing shell is helpful to keep track of the life expectancy.
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| A Photograph of a typical smoke detector, a real life saver. |
Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Laws require for every structure that a permit is issued for new construction on or after July 1, 2008, and having a fossil fuel heater, fireplace, appliance or an attached garage shall have a Carbon Monoxide Detector installed within 10 feet of every bedroom.
More than 10,000 people suffer carbon monoxide poisoning each year needing medical attention, in excess of 450 deaths are blamed on CO2 poisoning. Because of the danger of deaths caused by high levels State Legislatures have adopted laws requiring the installation of CO2 monitors. Not all of the laws are consistent across state lines, ranging from requiring one in each room with a smoke alarm in them to only day care centers and group homes in need of them. Checking with State and local laws, rules, and regulations are among the first steps we need to take.
A majority of States have since March 2018 enacted laws requiring Carbon Monoxide Detectors, 11 have announced new regulations pertaining to them to be enacted at various times.
+Alaska requires them to be installed in all dwellings and be approved by the fire marshall.
+ Connecticut, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Florida, and West Virginia all require CO2 Monitors in all new construction.
+ Minnesota requires them in motor boats.
+ California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, and Maryland, passed laws requiring them installed in school buildings.
+ Fourteen states make them mandatory in Hotels and Motels.
Follow this link to a list of Carbon Monoxide Detector information.
These are some actions to take when the smoke alarm goes off, exit your home quickly, you could have guessed that, crawl close to the floor keeping under the smoke. Leave everything behind, we have just a few minutes to evacuate, many times less than a minute. Once you are outside the structure, do not go back inside, go to your family gathering spot and ensure everyone is safe, do not return to the house.
If the alarm in the hallway sounds off, feel the door, if it is hot do not open it. Roll up a towel, sheet, or other fabric and block the smoke coming in from under the door. If the door is opened there is a chance the fire will come roaring in towards you. If you do have to open it stand to the side, then immediately drop to the floor and crawl out down the hallway. It there is a window in the room open it rapidly and climb out if you are on the ground floor jump to the outside surface and run away from the structure. If you live in a multi-story dwelling, and the bedrooms are upstairs, each should have a means of escaping safely. Safety ladders are available for 2-3 and 4 story homes, they attach to the window sill and are very stable. If a ladder (Link to purchase a ladder) or a fire escape stairway in an apartment is utilized we must practice using them. If you are in an upper level and have no way out, draw attention to yourself out the window. A wet cloth held over your mouth, nose, and eyes will enable you to breathe through the basic filter.
There are some tasks we can perform to prepare for a home fire.
1) Every night before we climb into bed, lay out a set of clothes, socks, shoes, pants, and a shirt, lay them out next to our beds. If there is not enough time to get dressed, PUT YOUR SHOES ON, do not attempt to escape a burning home barefooted. If nothing else gather up the clothing in your arms and make a hasty exit.
2) Make a plan, it is serious business and the more variables you have the more detailed it should be. Allowances for elderly, handicapped, and youngsters must be addressed, make the plan with all members of the household having input. Don't write a plan alone, then foist it upon the family, they may not accept it fully without input.
3) Practice your plan, all members need to know where the muster point shall be, who to contact (we need telephone numbers), Pets need to be taken care of. There is a lot of issues that must be paid attention to.
4) If medication is left behind, do not run back in to fetch it, your doctor will assist us in refilling the prescriptions, nothing is more important than you and your family being safe.
5) It's dangerous for us to grab a garden hose and begin to extinguish the fire, a 3/4 inch water hose is not a match for a towering infernal. Leave the firefighting to the experts, we can not put it out.
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| We will only get in the way, make cookies and give them to the firefighters tomorrow. |
4 years ago my neighbors' houses burned down, two completely to the ground and one severely damaged, if the wind was in its normal prevailing direction my house would have been destroyed as well. It happened at 2 am, our neighbor called and reported: "Peters house is on fire!" Looking out the window the flames outlined the house 75 feet away, the flames were 75 feet high. One house was fully engulfed the second had just begun to catch fire to be consumed within 15 minutes. The third house, next door, was beginning to engage, my neighbors were out there in their nightclothes with a garden hose in their hands. She was in flip-flops and a sheer type of nightgown, standing between a pine tree and her house with the towering infernal within 25 feet of her. I imagined that Scotch Pine lighting up like a torch, taking her with it.
Earlier that week I had watched her spraying that tree down with water, she had been doing it for about three weeks every day. I asked her one day why she was doing, her reply was that the tree was full of pollen and she was washing it off finding it helped her allergies. It made perfect sense to me, I suffer from hay fever as well.
I am convinced if she had not soaked that tree it would have burst into flames and most likely she would have met her fate, I still shudder when I think of it. I have been involved in many different types of serious fires, having extensive firefighting training I know how dangerous it is for untrained or for that matter trained people to attempt to extinguish a fire. Do not attempt to put out a house fire with a garden hose, I was not employed as a firefighter. I always had jobs that it was expected of us to accept firefighting training and be active when they occurred.
A home fire is my foremost fear, we always have houseguests, I'm not joking when I say we have had visitors for the past 20 years with few weekends to ourselves. We make sure the people staying with us inform us of their coming and going, we live in an area that is near a tourist attraction. Our home is on pylons, or stilts if you will, bedrooms are on the second deck and the bottom floor. It is important in a residence like ours that we know who is where, some of these people are young, and some old. I'm handicapped, my wife is often gone, if a fire were to break out I would have to hurry three floors down to alarm them to get out. If they are not there, I will be risking my life and I don't care to do that if it is not needed. It may be a good practice for you as well if you have circumstances limiting mobility, or if it is a long way to roist people up to evacuate. All of these contingencies need to be in our planning, and they need to be practiced.
(Follow this Link to FEMA's home fire escape plan materials)
Well here's to hoping none of us experience a fire of any sort, but if we do I hope this article has inspired some of us to prepare as well as we can for it. Make a plan, practice it, lay out a set of clothes every night, and don't attempt firefighting with a garden hose, leave it to the experts. Thanks for reading and sharing, please leave a comment with a story or an experience you have had. Thanks again!
jacquesandkate emergencykitsplus.com
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