For Patients and Families

Every family can make their home safer from potential fires with some basic precaution and planning. The most important things you can do are:

• Installing smoke detectors is an easy way to prevent a fire in your home.
• Working smoke detectors reduce the risk of someone dying in a fire by 50 percent.
• Homes without working smoke detectors are two-and-a half more likely to have a fire.

• Install a smoke detector on every level of your home and outside every bedroom.
• Test your smoke detectors once a month
• Change the batteries once a year
• Replace smoke detectors every 10 years
• Resist temptations to "borrow" the batteries out of your smoke detector for your remote control or other battery-operated device. Despite your best intentions, you may forget to put them back.
• Even if your smoke detector has a tendency to be set off by cooking or by steam from the shower, refrain from disconnecting it. It's better to be annoyed occasionally by a smoke detector than to not have one working at all.

Let everyone in your household know what the smoke detector's alarm sounds like. If a child hasn't heard the sound before, it could be frightening. Tell your children that the sound means to follow your family's fire escape plan and leave the house immediately.

• Most home fires start in the kitchen and are the result of someone leaving cooking unattended.
• Most home fires that lead to someone's death are due to careless cigarettes smoking.
• Candles are an increasing cause of home fires, especially during the holidays.

• Once you turn on the stove to begin cooking, stay in the kitchen area. Many fires are caused by people becoming distracted and forgetting that they have left the stove on.
• If a grease fire starts in the kitchen, smother it with a pan cover. Water will only make a grease fire worse.
• Avoid smoking in bed or while lying on the couch. It's all too common for people to accidentally fall asleep with a cigarette still lit.
• Douse cigarette butts in water before putting them in the trash.
• Keep your candles in tip-proof holders. Avoid leaving a child alone with a burning candle.
• Never leave candles out of sight or leave home with a candle burning.
• Make sure Christmas decorations or anything flammable aren't near candle flames.
• Keep all items, including furniture and curtains, three feet from portable heaters. Unplug heaters each time you leave your house.
• Keep children away from portable heaters. They can be badly burned.
• Teach your children that matches and lighters are not toys, but are tools for adults to use. Store them in a place children can't get to.

• Most children in the United States practice fire drills at school, but interestingly, fires rarely occur in schools.
• According to at the U.S. Fire Administration, 80 percent of fire-related deaths happen in homes. Almost 55 percent of children age 5 and younger who die from home fires are asleep at the time.

• Identify two exits out of every room - even if one is a window or balcony - in case the door is blocked.
  • Communicate to every member of your household about the designated exits. Draw up a floorplan or fire escape map to help everyone remember.
  • See if there is a tree, ladder, porch roof, or other way to escape from each window. If not, tell everyone, especially small children, to wait at the window to be rescued if there is no other way out.
• Remember to make fire safety plans for children with special needs.
  • For children with hearing impairments, flashing and vibrating smoke alarms are available. Contact your local fire department for more information.
  • Make sure exits and pathways are clear from clutter so children in wheelchairs can get out. Alert the Fire Department about any special needs children or adults in the house as soon you are aware of a fire.
• Practice your fire escape plan.
  • Have a fire drill in your home. Practice with your family being in different rooms when the smoke alarm goes off, and pretend certain exits are blocked by fire or smoke. The way out may seem obvious in the daylight, but most household fires occur at night.
  • Also, it's important to know how your child will react if sleeping when the fire alarm goes off. Some children will continue sleeping, others will walk straight into the smoke/danger zone, and others will hide in a closet or elsewhere.
  • Stay calm. Remaining calm and offering encouragement as you go through your family's practice fire drill will help your children feel protected and empowered, instead of frightened and panicked.
• Choose a meeting place outside so you can know quickly if all members of your household are out safe.
  • Tell children to never re-enter a burning building for anything, including pets.

• More than 70 percent of fire-related deaths are from smoke inhalation, not burns.
• Room temperatures in a fire can range from 100 degrees at floor level, up to 600 degrees at eye level.
• Fires start bright, but smoke will quickly turn a room pitch black.

• Leave the house or area immediately and call 911.
• Tell your children that even if they started the fire, they will never get in trouble for telling an adult or calling 911 immediately.
• Check doorknobs for heat before opening a door. If a doorknob is hot, or if smoke is coming in from under the door, don't open it. Go to a window to get out or to wait for someone to rescue you.
• If smoke has filled the room, stay low and crawl to get outside.
• If you are trapped and can't get near an open window, wrap yourself in a blanket or rug to shield yourself from smoke.
• "Stop, Drop, and Roll" if you or your clothing ever catches on fire.
• Keep fire extinguishers on every level of your home and learn how to use them.
  • Only use your home fire extinguisher if the fire is confined to a small area, such as a wastebasket and the room is not filled with smoke. Otherwise, call 911 and let the fire department extinguish the fire.

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