National Burn Awareness Week is February 5 – 11, 2017. Please listen to some important burn prevention tips shared on WKZO AM 590 radio Monday morning February 6th at 9:10 a.m. by our founder Firefighter Michael McLeieer.
Members from the Saugatuck Township Fire District and Graafschap Fire Department spent their Saturday morning (December 17, 2016) installing FREE smoke and carbon monoxide alarms at Johnson Village as part of their Community Risk Reduction program.
If you live in the Saugatuck Township Fire District you can request a free alarm evaluation and installation through the web site at www.SaugatuckFire.org or by calling 269-857-3000.
Both the Saugatuck Township Fire District and Graafschap Fire Department are part of the WOTV Operation Save A Life program serving 14 counties throughout West Michigan. If you live outside of the STFD or GFD areas and are in need of a new smoke or carbon monoxide alarm, please call toll free 1-844-978-4400 or email [email protected].
When most people think about the holidays, family festivals and good cheer with friends likely come to mind. What few of us consider is that the holidays also present an increased risk of home fires. Home fires during the holiday season often involve cooking, Christmas trees, candles and holiday decorations. By taking some preventative steps, using common sense and following some simple rules, most home fires can be prevented during the holidays and beyond.
Cooking
- Unattended cooking is the leading cause of U.S. home fires and home fire injuries, with most cooking fires involving the stovetop.
- Stay in the kitchen while you’re frying, grilling or broiling food. Keep anything that can catch fire away from the stovetop, and turn it off when you leave the kitchen, even if it’s for a short period of time.
- If you’re simmering, boiling, baking or roasting food, check it regularly and use a timer to remind you that you’re cooking.
- Create a “kid-free zone” of at least three feet around the stove and areas where hot food and drinks are prepared or carried.
- If you have a cooking fire, just get out! When you leave, close the door behind you to help contain the fire. Call 911 or the local emergency number immediately after you leave.
- If you do try to fight the fire, be sure others are getting out and that you have access to an exit.
- Keep a lid nearby when you’re cooking to smother small grease fires. Slide the lid over the pan and turn off the stovetop. Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled. For an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed.
Candles
- Candles are widely used in homes throughout the holidays; December is the peak month for home candle fires.
- More than half of all candle fires start because the candles had been too close to things that could catch fire.
- When burning candles, keep them at least 12” away from anything that can burn (create a 1-foot circle of safety), and remember to blow them out when you leave the room or go to bed.
- Use candle holders that are sturdy, won’t tip over and are placed on uncluttered surfaces. Avoid using candles in the bedroom, where two of five U.S. candle fires begin, or other areas where people may fall asleep.
- Never leave a child or pets alone in a room with a burning candle.
- Consider using flameless candles, which look and smell like real candles.
Christmas Trees
- U.S. fire departments annually respond to an average of 250 structure fires caused by Christmas trees. Nearly half of them are caused by electrical problems, and one in four resulted from a heat source that’s too close to the tree.
- If you have an artificial tree, be sure it’s labeled, certified or identified by the manufacturer as fire-retardant. If you choose a fresh tree, make sure the green needles don’t fall off when touched; before placing it in the stand, cut 1-2” from the base of the trunk. Add water to the tree stand, and be sure to water it daily.
- Make sure your tree is not blocking an exit, and is at least three feet away from any heat source, like fireplaces, space heaters, radiators, candles and heat vents or lights.
- Use lights that have the label of an independent testing laboratory, and make sure you know whether they are designed for indoor or outdoor use. Replace any string of lights with worn or broken cords, or loose bulb connections. Connect no more than three strands of mini-string sets and a maximum of 50 bulbs for screw-in bulbs.
- Never use lit candles to decorate the tree.
- Always turn off Christmas tree lights before leaving the home or going to bed.
- After Christmas, get rid of the tree. Dried-out trees are a fire hazard and should not be left in the home or garage, or placed outside the home.
- Bring outdoor electrical lights inside after the holidays to prevent hazards and make them last longer.
E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire Safety reminds you by following these simple yet important safety tips, everyone in your family will have a “fire-safe” holiday season Where You Live!
What’s your #RecipeforSafety?
Cooking is the leading cause of home fires and injuries in the United States, and the third leading cause of home fire deaths.
Preventing cooking fires can be relatively simple. Review the following safety tips from our friends at Kidde Fire Safety before breaking out those treasured holiday recipes: http://www.kidde.com/
The holiday season can be one of the most dangerous season’s for fires. Michael McLeieer of E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire Safety has some special holiday fire prevention and safety tips.
Christmas Tree
- Check the wiring on your tree
- Look for loose ornaments that could become choking hazards
- Use outlet covers
Kitchen
- Stand by your pan
- Use back burners first
- Create a three foot kid-free zone
Bathroom
- Keep medication out of reach of children
Pets
- Reintroduce pets to young children, especially if they’re not used to them
E.S.C.A.P.E.‘s President and Founder Firefighter Michael McLeieer talks with Jim McKinney on Kalamazoo’s Morning News on WKZO AM 590 about this weekend’s time change. When we “fall back” 1 hour this weekend with our clocks, we should also replace the batteries in the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to keep everyone safe!
Sunday, November 6, is the time to move the clocks one hour back. It’s also a good time every year to change your smoke and carbon monoxide alarm batteries.
The National Fire Protection Association reports 71% of smoke alarms which failed to operate had missing, disconnected or dead batteries, making it important to take this time each year to check your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
Working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms double the chance of a family surviving a home fire and/or an unsafe carbon monoxide level.
Use this checklist to find out if you are taking the right steps to protect your family:
- Count Your Smoke Alarms – Be sure there is at least one smoke alarm less than 10 years old installed on every level of your home, including one in every bedroom and outside each sleeping area.
- Change Your Smoke Alarm and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Batteries – Fire experts nationwide encourage people to change their smoke and carbon monoxide alarm batteries at least once a year. An easy way to remember to do so is to change the battery when you move the clock back to standard time November 1st.
- Check Your Smoke Alarm and Carbon Monoxide Alarm – After inserting a fresh battery in each smoke and carbon monoxide alarm, push the safety test button to make sure the alarms are in proper-working condition. Conduct this test monthly. Never disconnect your smoke alarm battery! Remember that a “chirping” alarm is a signal it needs a fresh battery.
- Clear Your Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms – Ensure your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms’ sensitivity by cleaning them each month of dust and cobwebs.
- Replace Your Smoke Alarms – The United States Fire Administration recommends replacing smoke alarms every 10 years and having a combination of both ionization and photo electric smoke alarms to keep you alert to all types of home fires.
- Change Your Flashlight Batteries – Keep flashlights with fresh batteries at your bedside for help in finding the way out and signaling for help in the event of a fire.
- Get the Whole Family Involved – Once smoke and carbon monoxide alarms have fresh batteries installed, you should make sure family members, children in particular, know what the alarms sound like and what to do should they go off…Get Out and Stay Out and then call 911 from a safe meeting place once outside!
- If you need a free smoke and/or carbon monoxide alarm, contact your local fire department, American Red Cross Chapter, email the Operation Save A Life program at [email protected] or call toll free 1-844-978-4400.
Here is a complete list of West Michigan smoke alarm installation programs.
Sometimes saving a life can be that simple – Change Your Clock Change Your Battery® Where You Live!
Make trick-or-treating safe for your little monsters with a few easy safety tips!
Children dressed in costumes excitedly running door to door to trick-or-treat, festive decorations like glowing jack-o-lanterns, paper ghosts and dried cornstalks adorning front porches – these are some of the classic hallmarks of Halloween that make this time of year special for kids and adults alike. Unfortunately, these Halloween symbols and activities can also present lurking fire risks that have the potential to become truly scary. But by planning ahead, you can help make this Halloween a fire-safe one. Halloween by the numbers from the United States Fire Administration: For each year from 2011 to 2013, an estimated 10,300 fires were reported to fire departments in the United States over a three-day period around Halloween and caused an estimated 25 deaths, 125 injuries, and $83 million in property loss. According to the National Fire Incident Reporting System, Halloween fires occurred most frequently in the late afternoon and early evening hours, peaking during the dinner hours from 5 to 7 p.m. Fires then declined, reaching the lowest point during the early morning hours of 4 to 7 a.m. The leading causes of Halloween residential fires were cooking (44%), heating (15%), other unintentional careless actions (7%), open flame (6%), electrical malfunction (6%), and intentional actions (5%).
- The National Fire Protection Association reports decorations were the item first ignited in an estimated average of 900 home structure fires per year.
- Nearly half of decoration fires in homes occurred because the decorations were too close to a heat source.
- These fires caused an estimated average of one civilian death, 41 civilian injuries and $13 million in direct property damage throughout the United States per year.
- Forty-one percent of these incidents were started by candles; one-fifth begin in the living room, family room or den.
Let’s help our communities be safer during Halloween by sharing a few fire safety tips with everyone:
- When choosing a costume, stay away from long, trailing fabric. If your child is wearing a mask, make sure the eye holes are large enough so they can see out.
- Provide children with flashlights to carry for lighting or glow sticks as part of their costume.
- Dried flowers, cornstalks and crepe paper catch fire easily. Keep all decorations away from open flames such as candles and other heat sources like light bulbs and heaters.
- Use a battery-operated flameless candle or glow-stick in jack-o-lanterns. If you use a real candle, use extreme caution. Make sure children are supervised at all times when candles are lit. When lighting candles inside jack-o-lanterns, use long, fireplace-style matches or a utility lighter. Be sure to place lit pumpkins well away from anything that can burn and far enough out of way of trick-or-treaters, doorsteps, walkways and yards.
- Remember to keep exits clear of decorations, so nothing blocks escape routes.
- Make sure all smoke alarms in the home are working.
- Tell children to stay away from open flames including jack-o-lanterns with candles in them. Be sure they know how to stop, drop and roll if their clothing catches fire. (Have them practice , stopping immediately, dropping to the ground, covering their face with hands, and rolling over and over to put the flames out.)
For more information about Halloween fires and fire safety, check out the U.S. Fire Administration’s website. By taking simple fire safety precautions like keeping decorations far away from open flames and using battery-operated candles or glow-sticks in jack-o-lanterns, you can help ensure Halloween remains festive and fun close to Where You Live!
This family event combines safety with a whole lot of fun! Join E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire Safety, WOOD TV8’s Chief Meteorologist Bill Steffen and Jake the Fire Safety Dog for the 13th Annual Family Fire Safety Day on October 22nd from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Free nine volt batteries and smoke alarms will be available (while supplies last) and you can visit with Portage firefighters and tour their fire truck. If you need a smoke alarm installed in your owner occupied home, call toll free 1-844-978-4400 or email [email protected].
Family Fire Safety Day
Saturday October 22nd – 10am – 2pm
Lowe’s in Portage – 5108 S. Westnedge Ave.
Join the E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire SafetyTeam and Jake the Fire Safety Dog this Saturday at Lowe’s in Portage for the 13th Annual Family Fire Safety Day from 10am – 2pm. Free smoke alarms and 9-volt batteries will be distributed, while supplies last.