Fire Prevention Week

October 4-10th is National Fire Prevention Week, sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). 

This year’s theme, “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned,” focuses on ways to keep homes fire safe and prevent painful burns. The NFPA states that each year roughly 3,000 people dies as a result of home fires and burns, and more than 200,000 individuals are seen in the nation’s emergency rooms for burn injuries.

By following simple safety rules, the NFPA says, you can “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned.”

• Keep hot foods and liquids away from tables and counter edges so they cannot be pulled or knocked over.
• Have a 3-foot “kid-free” zone around the stove.
• Never hold a child in your arms while preparing hot food or drinking a hot beverage.
• Be careful when using things that get hot such as curling irons, oven, irons, lamps, heaters.
• Install tamper-resistant receptacles to prevent a child from sticking an object in the outlet.
• Never leave a child alone in a room with a lit candle, portable heater, lit fireplace or stove, or where a hot appliance might be in use.
• Wear short or close-fitting sleeves when cooking.
• Set your hot water temperature no higher than 120 degrees.
• Install anti-scald valves on shower heads and faucets.

Source: NFPA. http://www.firepreventionweek.org