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While the temperature outside drops slowly now that autumn is here, Creston Fire Department is promoting Fire Prevention Week.
The theme for 2014’s Fire Prevention Week is “Working smoke alarms save lives.”
Creston Fire Department distributes literature to elementary school students each year during Fire Prevention Week to promote fire prevention and safety.
“In all the literature that we distribute to the 1,200-some kids in our programs, it’s everything geared toward that (fire prevention),” said Creston Fire Captain Gary Thompson. “We send homework home to all the kids we touch base with. Our homework is the kids have to test their smoke alarms before they eat supper that night.”
The second part of the homework for kids is to practice an escape plan in the event of a fire.
“We do a lot as far as education of elementary students, preschool through sixth,” said Creston Fire Chief Todd Jackson. “We also do a lot of the other things throughout the year to promote fire safety, such as inspections.”
Smoke alarms can be purchased at most area retailers, Thompson said, and should be tested once a month.
“Coming up is ‘change your clock, change your battery.’ So, everyone should put new batteries in (their smoke alarms) when they change their clocks,” Thompson said.
According to National Fire Protection Association, one of the most common reasons smoke alarms fail is because of missing, disconnected or dead batteries.
Space heaters
Another issue now that the weather is changing is space heater use.
Space heaters are small appliances that produce heat while plugged in. However, there are pros and cons to the appliances.
“There are two areas I see with electric space heaters. That’s being too close to combustible materials, things that will burn, and the other thing you’ll see is them being used with wiring that isn’t designed to hold the draw that the space heater is designed to pull,” Jackson said.
An example Jackson gave is leaving a space heater on during the night, and a blanket being thrown over it after the room’s occupant got too hot.
Another example Jackson gave is in older homes that are not as insulated and have antiquated wiring systems, wiring system may have to work harder to put out the energy a space heater uses, therefore overloading electrical circuits.
“I’m hesitant to recommend space heaters as a reliable way of heating,” Jackson said.
There are different types of space heaters with safety mechanisms, such as it turning off if it is tipped onto its side.
“My recommendation is don’t use them,” Jackson said. “If you can avoid using them, don’t use them. Second thing is, if you’re questioning if your electrical system can handle it, call an electrician, and if you are going to use them, make sure you have a clear distance, two, three feet between it and anything combustible.”
Statistics
According to a recent NFPA report, there were 1,240,000 fires reported in 2012. Because of those fires, 3,240 civilians died, and 2,785 of the deaths were in residential fires.
“Those are huge numbers, and those are kind of why we focus on home fire safety,” Jackson said. “Install and maintain your smoke alarms because the quicker we can notify the occupants of the fire, the better the chance they can get out.”
Another statistic, according to NFPA, is three of five home fire deaths results from fires in properties without working smoke alarms. This is related to the statistic that the risk of dying is reported residential fires drops 50 percent if smoke alarms work.