Nobody expects a house fire, but you CAN be prepared to deal with one.
Regardless of whether you live in a detached single-family home, a townhouse, duplex, row house, high-rise apartment building or garden apartment, there is almost nothing scarier than a fire. After they become aware of the fire, people can become trapped by the flames and smoke, and even if they are able to escape, they may suffer smoke inhalation.
Home structure fires have a variety of causes, but many of them (47 percent) start with the usage of appliances, including stoves, microwave ovens, toasters, radiators and other heating systems. Open flames from candles and fireplaces cause 32 percent of these fires.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, in 2011 house fires resulted in 13,910 civilian injuries and 2,520 civilian deaths, while causing $6.9 billion in direct property damage.
Only 4 percent of home structure fires begin in a living room, family room or den, but they cause 24 percent of home fire deaths. Fires that start in a bedroom represent 7 percent of home fires, but they result in 25 percent of home fire deaths. Sixty-two percent of reported home fires deaths resulted from fires in homes with no working smoke alarms.
As always, you will increase the chances of survival for you and other family members if you have an emergency response plan in place. You should also have a 72-hour survival kit and bug-out bag prepared and ready to grab, and important documents should be organized.
There’s more to a house fire than scorching flames, although those are intimidating enough on their own. There’s also smoke, toxic gases, the lack of oxygen and a lack of light. House fires are usually preventable, but once they start, there’s often little time to react. Following are a few things you can do now to prepare for a potential fire in your home:
- Practice an evacuation plan with your family, both by sight and feel. It’s possible that the smoke will be too thick for you to see your way around. Have pre-arranged meeting places for your family members.
- Make sure that all of the doors, windows, screens and security bars can be easily opened by everyone in your home.
- Install smoke alarms and change their batteries regularly. The most reliable types of alarms are dual-sensor smoke detectors. Also, use a carbon monoxide detector.
- Keep a couple of fire extinguishers handy (one for the kitchen and one in your the bedroom), in order to keep small fires from spreading.
If you find yourself in a house fire that’s beyond the scope of your fire extinguisher, the best thing you can do is get yourself and other family members out of the residence. Here are 4 actions steps to take:
- Get to the nearest exit quickly. You may have to get down low if there is smoke in the air.
- If you need to open an interior door, do it slowly. The fire on the other side of the door could be worse than it is on your side.
- As soon as you are out of the house, call 911. Don’t try to do this until you’re sure you and other family members are safe.
- Do NOT go back into a burning building. On a personal note, I know this is the rule, but the fact is, if a family member is still in the house, I’m going back in.
Below are 4 things to do following a house fire:
- Even after a house fire has been extinguished, charred beams and other items can fall. Don’t go back in until you’ve been given the OK by the fire department.
- Contact your insurance agent and the landlord or mortgage company to report the fire.
- Assess the damage to your valuables and make a comprehensive list.
- If you’re planning to leave your residence for one or more days to stay at a hotel or at a friend’s residence, notify the police. Your house could become a target of thieves while you’re gone.
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Here’s what what happened with one of our reader’s when their home was destroyed by fire: http://www.patriotheadquarters.com/bepreparedi/
Your article on handling yourself in a house fire is full of good advice. A 35 year career as a professional firefighter has given me insight on a couple of points that I think would be helpful.
The first is about kids. If our kids were to intentionally break a window we would likely chastise them for their conduct and most kids know this. As a parent you need to give them permission ahead of time. You don’t want the kids to hesitate because they know it’s against the rules to intentionally break a window, punch out a screen or break down a door. Also show them how to clear all of the glass out of the frame before climbing through. It only takes seconds and could save them from a fatal cut.
The 2nd item relates to anyone that has a folding escape ladder under a window on a second or third floor. Practice using the ladder. They are awkward and tying the kids off with a rope is a good idea as well, at least until you are comfortable that they will be safe climbing down on their own. Discovering a fear of heights during an emergency is not the right time.
You can talk everyone through an escape plan till you’re blue in the face, but until you physically go through the window or crawl the length of the house on your belly or climb down the escape ladder you’ll never really know if it can be done.
A couple years ago one of the fire testing agencies did a study on smoke detectors and found that many, many children sleep right through the loudest smoke detectors. They also found that the recorded voice of their parents repeating over and over to roll onto the floor and get out of the house was effective. So manufacturers were working on smoke detectors that allowed a recorded message to be played during alarm activation. Something you might keep your eyes open for in the near future. May even be available by now.
One last point. Many years back the common elements that would burn in the average house fire were paper, wood, cotton and rubber. With the heavy use of plastics and synthetics today, entering a burnt out structure even days afterwards is taking your life in your hands. Materials off-gas vapours for many days after a fire is officially out. If you absolutely must go through the ashes you need really good ventilation, and I don’t mean a few windows and doors open. The local fire department can set up fans capable of moving 5,000-30,000 cubic feet of air per minute. Have them set them up to flow air around you while you go through the rubble. Believe me when I tell you that fire departments learned that lesson the hard way.
‘Open flames from candles and fireplaces cause 32 percent of these fires.”
This quote keeps ME awake at night, since I live in a multi-family dwelling. Especially during the winter months, if the power were to go out there likely would be lots of folks using candles and other devices to keep warm. All you need is for their dog to kick over a candle or lantern – and that’s all she wrote.
Frankly, my neighbors are NOT noted for common sense, preparedness, or even common courtesy. During a power failure, I’d likely have to bug out simply to avoid being burned out.
smoke alarms!! keep a fire exstigrature in your home an ABc type. this covers oil, or gas and any type of fire to put out. keep candle’s up high so they won’t get knocked over and use oil lamps. 9 x out of 10 they put themselves out if tipped over.
Here is my housefire story:
http://poetslife.blogspot.com/search/label/It%20Was%20Nothing
All good info, and good prep to do before you are in a house fire. Having been a firefighter (and my son is still an active captain for a local fire department) we have this down. However we believe in the PDR method, which stands for Practice, Drill, Rehearsal. Some drills are run with the steroids blazing very loud and everyone is wearing a blind fold. Even firefighters get caught or found only feet from the exit, because in thick smoke you can become disorient. Also on a note about the exit. Always test the closed door for heat. If it is hot it is a good chance it will not be your best exit, and if the fire on the other side is starved of oxygen and you open the door you can create a backdraft situation (where you just feed the fire more O2 which it will quickly consume) causing you greater danger. And as you said flames are not what kill most people it is smoke or the “super-heated ” air. Stay low, heat rises, and simply standing up into super heated air and taking a breath can scorch your lungs from the inside. So, always have at least two exits from every room. Another good thing to have are the window decals on the windows that indicate someone (like a child or elderly or disabled) is in this room. Firefighters love these as they tell them where to search first. And always train your children to get out on their own and NOT TO HIDE IN A CLOSET. And if you have all gotten out safely “MAKE SURE THE FIREFIGHTERS KNOW THIS” there is no reason for them to risk their lives looking for your loved ones in a burning house if everyone is safely out. And the old rule still applies, if you do catch on fire, stop, drop, and roll to aid in putting out the fire. I personally have a fire extinguisher in every room someone sleeps in. One in the kitchen and one in the garage. I also have a small fire ax in those rooms incase I need to make an exit (if both of my normal exits are blocked). Just to make sure I made myself clear on the checking of a closed door for heat first. If it is hot don’t open it (if at all possible). Having a blanket you can soak with water to cover yourself will help in escaping from a fire, and breathing through the wet blanket can cut down on the smoke you take in. Great article on this subject.
Speaking of wet blankets, this is where your water supply can come in handy. If like me, you don’t have much space, you can keep some of your water supply under each person’s bed. And tell them it’s there, so they know where to find the water to wet the blankets. Make it part of your fire drill. We have done this with both of our children, and they know that there is water in their rooms if they need it.
I survived a house fire in 2004 and the lingering fear is still with me to this day. I was stuck in my upstairs bedroom and was rescued by neighbors before the fire department arrived. The fire department was less than a mile away, I was very fortunate to have neighbors that put their safety on the line to rescue me and tried putting the fire out. The four friends will always be my heroes.