Fires happen. The good news is that in many cases they can be avoided and the fifty people that die from house fires each year don’t need to. There are two effective approaches to deal with the issue. The first is to know the most common causes of house fires and to prevent them from occurring.
The second, is to have the right equipment fitted. This will help to ensure that everyone can get out when a fire starts. It recognizes that, even with the best plans, fires occasionally still happen.
Equipment You Need To Fit Today
The key to surviving a house fire is to make sure you have enough warning and stalling devices. This gets you the time you need to get out of the building safely. Of course, that means having smoke detectors fitted. These will detect the fire as early as possible and their high-pitched sound will warn you to get out.
They can also be connected to sprinkler systems and wired to ring the emergency services.
Alongside this, you should fit fire shutters. These are especially beneficial on each side of the kitchen. When the smoke alarm goes off the fire shutters will automatically drop to the floor, effectively creating a wall from floor to ceiling.
Fire shutters are designed to withstand high levels of heat. In many cases, it can take over an hour before the fire can get past the shutter. The idea is that the fire shutters contain the fire and create escape routes that are safe to use.
You can then get out of the building without injuring yourself. Don’t forget, once you’re out never go back into a burning building
Most Common Causes of Kitchen Fires
Kitchens handle a lot of heat. You’ll have the stove on warming pans, if the food or liquid boils over it can start a fire. In fact, this is the most common cause of kitchen fires, leaving food unattended creating a fire risk.
But, fires can also start when items are carelessly left in kitchens. For example, a towel left too close to the stove can ignite from the flames or the heat. This burns easily and passes on to other combustible material. Before you know it the entire kitchen is on fire.
Another reason for kitchen fires is faulty electrics. The electric appliances in the kitchen tend to be higher watts than the rest of the house. This means there is a greater risk of an overloaded circuit. When the circuit is overloaded and the breaker doesn’t trip the wiring will get hot. This leads to short circuits which can start fires.
Finally, there are occasions when fires are started by someone accidentally turning the appliance on. If you don’t realize it’s on and there are combustible materials on top of it you can quickly have a fire.
The key to avoiding fires is being aware of the main causes and making sure that they are not going to happen in your kitchen.
