Key Points for Fire Safety

Follow these safety tips to make your home safe!

Installing/testing smoke alarms

• Install smoke alarms Listed (examined and tested to appropriate product safety standards) by a qualified testing laboratory on every level of your home, including inside or near every sleeping area.
• Make sure that the batteries in every smoke alarm are working. Smoke alarms should be tested once a month and batteries replaced once a year, or when the alarm “chirps,” warning that the battery is low.
• If any smoke alarms are more than 10 years old (or if no one can remember how old they are), have a grown-up replace them.
• Never paint or decorate a smoke alarm (even with stickers!) because this could keep it from working properly.
• Make sure that everyone in your home knows the sound of the smoke alarm, and knows exactly what to do if the alarm goes off.

Practicing Home Escape Plans

• Every family needs a home fire escape plan. When you make your plan, try to identify two ways out of each room (one way out might be the window, the other could be the door).
• Make sure that doors and other exits out of your home are clear of toys, furniture, and other clutter.
• If someone in your home needs help getting around (an infant, or a grandparent), make sure that another member of the family has been assigned to help them in the event of a fire.
• Choose a safe place to meet outside after you’ve left your home.
• Make sure that everyone in your home knows the fire department’s emergency number and understands to get out first and then call for help.
• Most important of all: practice your home escape plan twice a year. You never know when you’ll have to use it!

• Make sure a grown-up is always in the kitchen if food is cooking on the stove.
• Keep the stove clear of anything that could catch on fire: paper, towels, curtains, pot-holders, or food packages.
• Set up a “kid-free zone” around the stove. No kids or pets within three feet (one metre) of the stove when grown-ups are cooking!
• Be sure that grown-ups always turn off portable space heaters when they leave the room or go to sleep.
• If candles are burning, make sure that grown-ups blow them out when they leave the room. Also, be sure that candleholders are big and deep enough to catch dripping wax, and can keep the candles from tipping over. Most important: no candles in kids’ bedrooms!
• If there are smokers in your home, make sure that they put water on any butts or ashes before throwing them away.
• Matches and lighters should always be kept out of sight and reach of children, preferably in a locked cabinet.
• Make sure that electrical cords are in good condition, with no cracked or frayed areas.
• Any fuel or liquid that can catch on fire, like gasoline or kerosene, needs to be kept in a safe container, outside the home in a garage or shed.