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Fire Prevention > Could It Happen to Me?

Could It Happen to Me? The Following are Actual Statistics...Don't Become One!

Statistics show that, on average during our lifetime, each of us can expect to be involved in two or three fires serious enough to call the fire department. Whether, your fires occur at home, in a hospital, or a hotel, the same principles for survival apply.

Planning Ahead is Vital

People who have planned in advance what to do in a fire emergency and have the determination to survive are most likely to do so. Those who deny danger, feeling that fire will never happen to them, are most apt to succumb. If you leave something cooking on the stove, when someone calls, "come look at this!" or when the phone rings, you may find the kitchen engulfed in flames before you return. In just six weeks, 44 fires were caused by people forgetting that they had left something cooking when they stopped to watch television; and this was in one small town in Massachusetts!

If you smell gas and decide to turn off the lights to prevent an explosion, you may have just blown yourself up anyway. Unfortunately, not only is there a spark when a light is turned on, but also when a circuit is broken by turning it off! Remember, if you smell gas, GET OUT!

A neighbor cleaned out his fireplace and put his ashes in a paper bag, which was placed into a plastic can. There had been no fire in that fireplace for three days, yet half the house burned down before the firefighters could get there. Place ashes in metal cans with metal lids. One winter, 47 homes in Fairfax County, Virginia, were burned by improper disposal of fireplace ashes!

Three children ranging in age from 8 months to seven years, died in a Brooklyn, New York house fire. According to fire authorities, the home had several smoke detectors but the batteries had been removed from each to use in battery-powered toys! It is estimated that 90% of fire related deaths among children under the age of 5 occur in homes without a smoke detector. Install smoke detectors on every level of the home and test them each month. Keep spare batteries on hand.

In Pennsylvania, a mother awoke to the smell of smoke and the sound of the smoke detector at 5 am. She quickly rushed two of her children out the front door of their home and raced back into the burning building to reach her small child sleeping in a second story bedroom. Unknown to her, a neighbor had gone in the backdoor, up to the child's bedroom and had carried her out. The mother continued to search for her child in the upstairs bedroom, was overcome by smoke and died. How could this tragedy have been prevented?

A well-planned and frequently rehearsed escape plan is absolutely vital to the safety of all household members. Draw a floor plan showing at least two ways out of each room. Special consideration should be made for infants, the very old or physically impaired individuals. have a pre-established meeting place after you leave your house. Discuss the meeting place with your neighbors. In the Pennsylvania case, a neighbor knowing where the family's pre-established meeting place was, may have saved that woman's life. Remember, never re-enter a burning building!

"The Hotel's on Fire"

The husband heard the wife's cry before he was completely awake. Grabbing his overcoat, he threw it around his wife's shoulders and said. "Come on, let's get out of here."

The night before , they had explored the fire exit locations and now headed for the nearest. Smoke and searing heat were there ahead of them, so they raced back to their room only to come up short at the door.

"Did you bring your key?"

"Don't you have yours?"

Their questions were answered when a frantic search of this overcoat pockets turned the key up at last. The smoke thickened. The couple hurried back into their room only to find smoke pursuing them through the cracks around the door and even through the keyhole. He remembered packing a roll of masking tape in his suitcase to remove lint. Quickly, they taped the keyhole and cracks around the door and waited for the fire fighters to arrive.

Help came and directed them to safety. The couple raced down the corridor, nearly tripping over bodies of others who failed to bring their keys with them. Safely outside, all they could say was, "But for a key and a cheap roll of masking tape."

Remember, each time you return to your room, put your room key in the same place so that you can find it in the dark.

Carry a small flashlight and a roll of masking tape. Place them beside your key. When trapped in a room, focus on two things: making the room as smoke free as possible until you are rescued, and alerting the fire department of your location.

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