How You Can Reduce Home Fire Danger

The fires raging in Southern California last week, as well as one at San Jose State and another in a Silicon Valley retirement home has brought fire safety to the forefront of our attention.   How can we reduce the danger of losing our homes in a fire?

In today’s Mercury News, a very helpful article was posted with tips for all of us to take to heart.  Among some of the listed tips include:

• Never leave candles or a BBQ grill unattended
• Never use an electrical space heater with an extension cord, the cord may overheat and spark a fire
• If you must smoke, smoke outside.  Never never smoke in bed!
• Don’t overload kitchen outlets, use appliances with frayed cords, or leave the kitchen while cooking
• Keep fire extinguishers readily available, and make sure your smoke alarms work
• Check to make sure that your clothes drier vents outside and not into a wall.  Keep the lint screen free of lint. 
• Make sure all extension cords are free of fraying wires, and check all outlets regularly. Don’t overload your sockets, and use only the bulb wattage rated for your fixtures.

Some additional tips I would add are:

• Upgrade your wiring if you have older aluminum wires in your home.  These are notorious for causing fires
• Have your furnace checked regularly
• Don’t leave gas or propane heaters unattended outside
• Keep dry leaves raked up in your yard.
• Remove any dead, dry trees from your lawn
• Make sure trees are a safe distance away from your home

And, as a double precaution – buy a fire proof safe to keep all your important papers so they are recoverable if the worst does happen!