Fire Safety Month: Our Top Tips to Protect What Matters Most!

A little bit ago I shared my experience with First Alert alarms and tips on how to keep your home and loved ones safe. Since then, First Alert has released a new survey that revealed some pretty startling statistics.

• Only 47% of people report having carbon monoxide alarms in their homes
• More than 60% of us do not test our smoke and carbon monoxide alarms monthly
• One-third of homes are not equipped with a fire extinguisher

In honor of Fire Prevention Month in October, I want to emphasize the importance doing regular home safety checks. I encourage you to enhance your home safety by having working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms throughout your home, making monthly alarm maintenance a regular habit and opting for reliable protection when replacing expired alarms. Did you know you should be checking your alarms on a monthly basis? Doing monthly checks ensures that your alarms will work in the case of an emergency. Testing your alarms can easily be overlooked and forgotten about. I would highly suggest writing it down on a family calendar, setting a reminder on your phone or picking the same date every month to test each alarm.

Your home safety checklist should also include making an escape route in the event of an emergency. Follow these steps to ensure your family has an effective emergency escape plan:

• Identify two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.
• Choose an outside meeting place (i.e. neighbor’s house, mailbox or stop sign) a safe distance from your home where everyone can meet. The first person at the predesignated meeting spot should call 911.
• Once you’re out, stay out. Under no circumstances should you ever go back into a burning building. If someone is missing, inform the fire department dispatcher when you call. Firefighters have the skills and equipment to perform rescues.
• Make sure your entire family understands the plan and practice it at least twice a year, making the drills as realistic as possible

In addition, equip second-floor sleeping areas with escape ladders and every floor with a fire extinguisher, and discuss how to use them. Fire extinguishers should be kept where they are easily reachable and in key rooms where there is a higher risk for fires such as the kitchen and garage. Here are some other great tips when it comes to your homes smoke alarms:

• Smoke alarms should be installed on every level of the home, including the basement, inside each bedroom and in the main corridors, and carbon monoxide alarms should be installed on each level of the home and in a central location outside each bedroom.
• Once alarms are installed, be sure to properly maintain them by testing regularly. First Alert alarms are equipped with a test button to make this easy.
• Replace batteries every six months. If you have the added benefit of 10-year alarms, you don’t need to worry about battery replacement, but it’s still important to test the alarms.
• If you can’t remember or don’t know how old an alarm is, it is best to replace the entire unit.

So make October the month that your family puts a plan into action to stay safe in the event of a fire. And of course, head over to First Alert to update your home safety alarms and take advantage of some pretty cool technology.

This post was sponsored; as always we only promote products we love and all opinions are our own.