Fire Escape Plan | |
| What is a fire escape plan? It's your strategy for a safe exit from your home during a fire emergency. What ingredients make up an effective escape plan? A careful escape plan begins with careful preparation, proper placement of smoke detectors and regular Exit Drills In The Home (E.D.I.T.H.) practice. Hopefully you will never have a fire in your home. However, should a fire occur, your safety and that of your family will depend on calm, rational actions of the occupants. Exit drills in the home and a carefully designed escape plan can be the key to a safe escape. How do I put together a fire escape plan? Advanced planning will ensure that you are ready for any fire emergency and can provide you and your loved ones with peace of mind. To design your own fire escape plan, sketch the floor plan of your home on a piece of paper. Indicate on the plan all doors, windows and other avenues of escape from each room in your home. Draw arrows to indicate the normal exits which would be your primary escape route. With an alternate color, draw arrows to indicate a secondary exit from each room in the home. | |
Homeowner Tips for After a Fire | |
| Tips for the property owner: 1. Restrict movement in the property to prevent further damage. 2. Place dry, colorfast towels or old linens on carpeted high traffic areas. 3. If electricity is off, empty freezer and refrigerator and open doors. 4. Wipe soot from chrome on kitchen and bathroom faucets and appliances, then protect with a light coating of lubricant. 5. Do not to wash any walls or painted surfaces without first contacting a CPR Professional. 6. Do not shampoo carpet or upholstered furniture without contacting a CPR Professional. 7. Do not attempt to clean any electrical appliances that may have been close to fire or water. | |
Fire Safety at Home | |
| Home Fire Safety: Knowing What To Do In the case of a fire, your first consideration should be the safety of you and your family. If there is a question about staying at home or leaving, evacuate immediately. Here is a list of procedures to follow. | |
Water Damge 101 | |
| The best way for a beginner to deal with water damage is to be prepared before your living room gets turned into the world’s most shallow swimming pool! First of all, do you know where your water shut-off valves are? Where is yours? It will probably be outside your home, in the ground, under a small, metal cover. Once you find it (or if you already know where it is) turn on a faucet that you can see or hear – maybe one attached to your sprinklers or a hose. Next, turn off the water from this main valve. There is a special tool you can get to turn the small handle, but I have done just fine with a vice grips or a good, large pliers. Once you have turned it off and the water stops from the faucet you left running, you know you can do it – so, turn it back on again and go about your daily affairs knowing that you can save your home from a broken pipe if ever you need to. If you find yourself with water in your home follow these next steps. | |
Be Safe When Barbecuing | |
| Summer fun often includes barbecuing and eating outdoors with family, friends and co-workers. The following precautions must be followed if barbecues are used at work and are recommended wherever barbecuing takes place. These apply to charcoal grills, LP-gas grills, natural gas grills, hibachis, smokers, or any appliance that uses an open flame to cook. These precautions apply when grills are in use and until they have cooled. | |
Killing Mold | |
| Chlorine Bleach Is the Best Way To Kill Mold – Right? Wrong! So there is some black mold in your basement, laundry room, bathroom or around that pesky damp spot in your ceiling. No problem, just grab some of that mold killer you bought at the local grocery store, spray the black stuff and in a few minutes it turns brown, then vanishes – voila! You have killed the mold and have nothing more to worry about – right? No, you bleached it you didn’t kill it. Chances are it is still there and growing like crazy. Don’t get me wrong, bleach kills mold just fine on hard surfaces like counter tops, shower tiles, etc. But on porous surfaces like walls, ceilings, concrete and wood, the chlorine gets the top of the mold, but the roots (called, “hyphae”) just go happily on, reproducing at a furious rate. | |
Energy Crisis Can Cause a Fire | |
| Higher energy costs lead to the use of other potentially dangerous heat sources. | |