Fire Safety for Your Family

Prepare your family for a home fire. Here are some easy steps you and your family can take to protect your home and each other, and to understand the basics of fire safety.

No one likes to think about bad things happening to their home or family. But things like home fires do happen — more often than you might think. Home fires kill an average of seven people every day, and they cause billions of dollars in property damage.

Energizer and the International Association of Fire Chiefs offer the following advice, including easy steps you and your family can take to protect your home and each other in case of a fire.

Your Best Defense

According to the National Fire Protection Association, working smoke alarms are your best chance for escaping a home fire. They can alert you to a fire 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether you’re awake or asleep.

- 11pm-7am are the peak alarm times for home fire deaths — when people tend to be asleep and the house is likely to be dark.

- On average, families have less than 3 minutes from the time the first smoke alarm sounds to escape a fire.

The NFPA says that in the U.S., almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with inoperable smoke alarms or no smoke alarms. In reported home fires in which the smoke alarms were present but did not operate:

   - Half of the smoke alarms had missing or disconnected batteries. Nuisance alarms were the leading reason for disconnected smoke alarms.

   - Almost one-quarter (23 percent) of the smoke alarm failures were due to dead batteries.

   - Only seven percent of the failures were due to hardwired power source problems, including disconnected smoke alarms, power outages and power shut-offs.

Fire Safety Checklist

Install smoke alarms on every level of the home and outside each sleeping area.

Best location: On the ceiling in the center of the room, at least 12 inches from any wall.

Second best location: On a wall 12 inches below the ceiling.

Test alarms once a month.

To reach it, stand on a chair or use a broom handle, and push the unit’s test button. If you don’t hear anything, the battery is probably dead. If the unit still doesn’t sound after you’ve changed the battery, replace it with a new smoke alarm.

Change batteries at least once a year.