Home Maintenance and Safety Tips - Fire Safety

I’m sure you were as horrified as I was when you heard about the Christmas morning fire in Stamford.  I’m a home inspector, and the Christmas tragedy has made me want to discuss some of the issues that surfaced regarding that fire. There are some hard lessons to be learned here.

The first is that fire can strike anyone - whether you're careful or not, whether you’re rich or poor, whether you rent or own, whether you smoke or don’t, etc. No one is immune. Statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission tell us that about 3000 people a year die in the U.S. in residential fires. Most die of smoke inhalation (inhaling toxic gases) – not burns. Most deaths and injuries occur in fires that happen at night, and most of these begin as smoldering fires. 

The best protection you can have is a smoke detector/alarm. Compare the fire in Stamford (did not appear to have working smoke alarms) to the fire two days later in Woodstock. The fire in Woodstock also occurred in the early morning hours, but in that fire, the home’s smoke alarms sounded and woke the mom. She had enough time to get out of bed, verify that the house was on fire, and get her four children outside to safety – with no loss of life. 

Smoke detectors are designed to warn you in the event of fire or smoke, so that you and your family have enough time to get out. See illustration #1 - it shows that there are only minutes from the time your smoke alarm goes off until the environment inside the home becomes deadly. If you don't have an alarm, you may not be able to escape in time.

The next illustration - #2, shows where smoke alarms should be placed in the home. They should be located in every bedroom, outside every sleeping area, and on every level of the home.  

There are different types of alarms. There are talking smoke alarms. There are personalized alarms that call out in your own voice (to wake children). There are some that include a carbon monoxide detector. There are some that are hardwired, and some battery operated and some of both.  Some have 10 year batteries so you never have to change the battery for the life of the dectector. 

With regard to fire/smoke detection, an ionization type alarm is better at detecting flaming fires, and a photoelectric type is better at detecting smoldering fires. It is a good idea to have one of each. You can even get an alarm that includes both technologies. If you can’t afford the fancy ones with all the bells and whistles, then just get the cheapest thing you can find at your local hardware store, as long as you GET A SMOKE DETECTOR. Change the battery once a year, and test it once a week. Change the detector out after 10 years. I don’t know about you, but after the Stamford fire I went around to all my smoke alarms and changed the batteries – whether they needed to be changed or not! 

Improper disposal of fireplace ashes is not an uncommon cause of fires. Some people place the hot ashes in paper bags (no I’m not kidding) or plastic containers. It’s best to leave the hot ashes right where they are and let them cool down until the following morning. Even then you’ll sometimes find a hot coal amongst the cool ashes, so use a metal bucket. And have your fireplace/chimney inspected to help prevent a chimney fire. 

Another lesson that came out of the Stamford fire (this isn’t a home inspection issue, but I want to talk about it anyway), is that it’s very important to work out and practice an emergency exit strategy (see illustration #3), especially if you have children. Children (and sometimes adults too) tend to panic and hide in a fire. A child will hide in the closet, under the bed, or under the covers. They may run from someone trying to help them, like firefighters, who with their gear on may appear to be a monster or an alien coming for them. If they’ve practiced the emergency exit plan, they will know what to do and they will be less likely to panic and run off. Plan for two exits out of each room. 

The Stamford fire floored me, as I’m sure it did you. We don’t even know those people, but we feel terribly for them. We wonder how could this happen? Nothing can make sense of it, and nothing short of a time machine can make it better. The best thing anyone can do is learn from this tragedy and do everything we possibly can to make sure that it doesn’t happen again - ever. 

If you have questions about smoke alarms, home inspections, fireplaces, etc., send me an email at Liberty Hill Home Inspections (libertyhill@snet.net). I’d be glad to hear from you. You can visit my webpage at www.libertyhillinspect.com. (Illustrations were obtained from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website – and they have a lot more info if you’re interested at www.cpsc.gov.)