5 Important Tips for Preventing a Fire in Your Home

It’s a concern for many homeowners, but how do you prevent a fire in your home? Here are some important tips here today!

Use a Smoke Alarm (and Check It!) 

Although it sounds simple, a surprising number of homes still don’t have a working smoke alarm. According to some statistics, it’s as many as one in ten households that choose to forgo a smoke alarm. Smoke is a byproduct of fire, and an effective alarm will sound whenever smoke is in the air. While a smoke alarm doesn’t necessarily prevent a fire, it can prevent a fire from destroying your whole home. 

Maintain Appliances

Next, consider getting your appliances checked every so often. Unfortunately, appliances are a leading cause of fires. People keep them for too long, don’t get them repaired, and allow them to fall into poor condition. This year, get your appliances checked and maintained. If the professionals don’t spot an issue, this is great news. If they do spot a problem, they will recommend a fix or replacement that could save your life. 

Clean Your Oven 

For the most part, ovens don’t just randomly set alight or spontaneously combust. Instead, food particles from meals long-forgotten sit on the surfaces and get too hot. Without cleaning, the risk of fire steadily increases over time. Thankfully, you can reduce the likelihood of fires by cleaning your oven frequently. 

Elsewhere, check the positioning of your oven (and other items in relation to the oven). For example, don’t allow curtains to drape perilously close to sources of fire. Also, be careful with other materials when using the stove or cooker. Sadly, some people have experienced fires after leaving a cookbook or towel close to fire sources. 

Maintain All Power Cords 

Over the years, we have become complacent when it comes to power cords and extension cables. As an example, some people plug seven different things into one power socket in the wall. If you’re using an extension cable on an extension cable, you’re probably going to overload the socket. Especially in older homes, they aren’t designed to handle so much power with several modern devices. 

Only use one extension cable in a wall socket and replace them whenever they’re damaged. If you’re seeing frayed wires and other fire damage, make the small investment of another extension cable. For such a small cost, it could just save your life (and the lives of others in the building). 

Elsewhere, don’t place extension towers or cables too close to rugs, curtains, and furniture. Often, these cables get hot, so the last thing you want is for them to sit next to a soft material. 

Be Sensible 

Finally, you can prevent a fire in your home with good habits. Firstly, store all flammable products carefully. Most cosmetic and household cleaning products are flammable, so don’t store them next to a heat source. Secondly, be sensible with your use of candles. A nice candle-lit meal with your partner is romantic in the holidays, but it will soon turn nasty if you put one next to a blanket or curtain. 

If you’re close to sleeping, make the effort of getting up and blowing the candles out. What’s more, it’s not wise to put candles on the floor if you have pets. 

With this advice, you can prevent a fire by maintaining all power cords, adopting sensible habits, cleaning the oven frequently, and maintaining appliances. As a bonus tip, check your smoke alarm to keep any fires that do arise to a minimum. 

To Know more about how to prevent fire in home contact our Orlando Fire Damage Restoration Company.