Norfolk Fire and Rescue (NFRS) – Derek Sim

I want to look at home fire safety and provide a few tips to help prevent fires in the home. One of the best ways of keeping you safe and alerting you to a potential fire in your home is a working smoke alarm. Recommendations are that you fit a smoke detector on every floor of your home, ideally on ceilings in the hallway or landing. Don’t put smoke detectors in the kitchen as these can be set off accidentally.

Test the batteries once a week by pressing the test button. If your smoke alarm doesn’t have a long life (5-10 years) battery, replace it each year.

As the kitchen is one of the higher fire risk areas of your home, here are some safety tips to reduce the risk of fire:

Do not leave cooking unattended – take the pans off the heat.
Take care when wearing loose clothing – it can easily catch fire.
Keep electrical leads, tea towels, and cloths away from the oven or hob.
Spark devices are safer than matches or lighters to light gas cookers.
Switch off the oven or hob when you’ve finished cooking.
Never leave children alone in the kitchen.
If you deep fry food, consider a thermostatically controlled electric deep fat fryer.

Prepare in advance and think about what you would do if you had a fire at home? Do you have an escape plan? Even if you’ve lived in your home for a long time, it can all seem very different in a fire, lack of vision, smoke, panic. So:

Plan your escape routes and keep exits clear.
The best route is the usual way in and out of your home.
Get everyone to test your escape plan.
Keep door and window keys handy – tell members of your household where they are.