Home fires are a leading cause of catastrophic burn injuries. From the years 2013-2017, home fires caused about 2,600 civilian deaths annually. The most common causes of home fires are cooking, heating, electricity and lighting, intentional fire setting and smoking, according to the National Fire Protection Association. From 2013-2017, cooking was the leading cause of home fires and smoking was the leading cause of home fire deaths.
Some people falsely believe that they’d have enough time to safely escape a fire in the house. You may not realize that it takes just a few minutes for flames, smoke and temperatures as hot as 600 degrees to fill the home.
All families and individuals should be ready and have a plan in the event of a house fire:
- Have a fire escape plan. Best practice is to identify two ways to escape a room in case one way is blocked.
- Install and maintain smoke alarms. Install smoke alarms on all levels of the home, in and outside of bedrooms. Test batteries once each month.
- Never leave cooking food unattended. Cooking food can cause a fire in mere moments.
- Don’t store cookbooks, paper towels or any other flammable materials near the oven or stovetop.
- Have heating systems inspected annually. Keeping them in good working order can prevent a house fire.
- Space heaters are a common cause of fires. Plug them directly into the wall outlet, not a power strip. The heater must be on a level surface and well out of range of curtains, bedsheets, carpet and other flammable materials.
There are many other ways to prevent fires and you should take some time to research those measures. Prevention can go a long way in keeping you and your household safe.
While home fires are most often caused by a mistake on the part of the homeowners, sometimes the source of the fire can be traced back to someone else’s negligence. A wide variety of home appliances, wiring and other parts of your home could cause a fire if not manufactured or installed properly. In such scenarios, you’d have no way of knowing that someone else’s carelessness set the stage for a catastrophic home fire.
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