Tips to protecting your home from a fire attack

Posted by Felix Okoli on Saturday April 19, 2014 at 9:4:39:

Fire outbreaks are regular accidents at home and if not contained on time can lead various hazardous effects such as loss of properties and in severe cases, loss of lives. Fire attacks can be caused by different ways such as: Sparks in electrical fuses and sockets, use of naked fire when cooking such as gas cookers, boiler rings, and flammable liquids such as fuel and kerosene being kept inside the house. Some tips to protecting your house from a fire attack include:

- Firstly, most fire outbreaks are electric related. Faulty or damaged electrical wires, cords and fuses should be changed or repaired immediately to avoid fire outbreak caused by fire sparks from these fuses.

- Secondly, the use of candles or other naked flames should be out rightly avoided at home. Candles are dangerous and should be avoided at all cost at home. It is better to make use of torch-lights with batteries than making use of candles in the house.

- Thirdly, smoking should be avoided inside the house. There have been cases of fire attacks caused by still-smoldering cigarette buffs. When the butt comes in contact with a flammable material such as cushions, curtains or rings, it leads to serious fire outbreak. Smoking should be done outside the house, if you must smoke inside the house, make sure that you put off the butt of the cigarette with water.

- Establish ground rules: There should be some ground rules for the home that would help prevent fire outbreaks. Rules related to using power generators, heavy electric equipment and safety procedures should be provided and made clear.

- Install fire fighting equipment: In cases of emergency, it is good to have fire fighting equipment at home to stop small fires before they grow big. Installing things like smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and water tank can help take care of a domestic fire before it gets out of hand

- Provide emergency numbers: This should be placed at a central place at home to be used in cases of a fire emergency that cannot be immediately handled. There should be a phone made available at home for this.

Finally, when ever you are looking in the kitchen, always be present to monitor the food and if for any reason you want to leave the kitchen, put off the stove and continue when you are back.