Imagine it’s the middle of the night and everyone in your house is asleep. Somehow a fire starts. The fire is initially flameless, but smoldering and producing think toxic smoke. The flames and heat are doubling approximately every minute. A few minutes pass. What once was a flameless smokey ember is now a free burning fire and growing. How long will it be before the smoke is so thick and toxic that taking one breath would knock you to the floor in a coughing fit? The air will be so putrid, as you try to take a breath your body resists inhaling. Almost like drowning, except you will be able to breathe in the smoke and gasses that could eventually kill you, even if you make it outside. How long before your path to the door is cut off by fire and smoke?
Wouldn’t you want some way to be alerted to such a threat? Your first line of defense against the dangers of fire is properly installed and maintained smoke detectors. About 2,500 people die in house fires in the United States annually. Two thirds (66%) of these deaths occur in homes that either don’t have a smoke detector or the detector was not functioning. In fact, 80% of all fire deaths in the United States occur in a home setting. Single family homes account for the majority of these deaths.
The Portage Fire Department wants to remind everyone that fire safety is “everyone’s responsibility” and that properly installed and maintained smoke detectors can reduce the risk of a fatal fire by half.
Smoke detectors should be checked monthly by pressing the test button on the face of the detector and new batteries should be installed at least once a year. Additionally, the fire service has promoted a long standing campaign “Change Your Clocks, Change Your Batteries”. This encourages families to change the smoke detectors batteries when we change our clocks for Daylight Savings Time. This way the batteries are changed about every 6 months, hopefully ensuring the smoke detector will be functional.
Following these basic fire safety tips can alert you to these dangers, giving you time to get out safely or maybe even extinguish the fire when it’s small. Don’t become a statistic. Protect your family with working smoke detectors and have a home escape plan. Check out more fire safety tips at The National Fire Protection Association website: http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=1491&URL=Safety%20Information The Consumer Product Safety Commission website: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/559.pdf