Imagine this: You awake suddenly one night to the sounds of yelling from family members and find smoke surrounding you. There’s a fire in your home, and the most frightening part is that you only have 1 to 2 minutes to get out of your house before it goes up in flames.
This visual isn’t intended to completely terrify you. However, it is a very real scenario that had sadly played out in many homes before because homeowners hadn’t outfitted their houses with the proper safety equipment. Ideally, homeowners would be woken by a blaring smoke alarm as soon as the first bit of smoke emerged.
To better protect your family, Pagel & Associates Insurance recommends that you take the following steps as soon as possible to ensure that you’re safe from possible fires.
Buy Smoke Alarms
Smoke alarms are your first line of defense against residential fires. There are two basic types: Wired or connected smoke alarms and standalone smoke alarms. Experts prefer wired and connected smoke alarms because they are able to communicate with one another and alert you to a fire much faster than standalone or battery-operated smoke alarms. Batteries can be faulty or worn out without you realizing it, which can easily cause the alarm not to go off even when there’s smoke.
You need to have smoke alarms on each level of your home as well as in every bedroom and outside of every sleeping area. Maintenance of your fire alarms is equally important as initial installation; test them at least once per month. You should also replace the batteries in your smoke alarms at least once every year. Every ten years, make sure to completely switch out your smoke alarms for entirely new models.
Kidde Recall: Check your smoke alarms now to ensure that you do not have a Kidde Dual-Sensor alarm (photoelectric and ionization; models PI2010 and PI9010) as these were recently recalled for being faulty and ineffective.
Purchase at Least One Fire Extinguisher
You need to have at least one fire extinguisher in your home as well. These can be a challenge to use, but there’s a trick: Remember the word PASS: Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep. These are the actions you must take to properly operate a fire extinguisher should you need one. It’s best to keep your fire extinguisher in your kitchen as is this is where most residential fires occur. Read more about the various types of fire alarms at OSHA.gov.
Kidde Recall: Check your fire extinguisher now to ensure it’s not a model that was recently recalled by Kidde.
Get a CO Alarm
Finally, you’ll need a CO or carbon monoxide alarm. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that is poisonous to humans. It may be found in your home because it is produced by stoves, gas ranges, furnaces, grills, and other small engines and appliances.
You should install your CO alarm outside of wherever you sleep at night so that you will be immediately alerted if you’re sleeping when the alarm detects carbon dioxide. Pagel & Associates Insurance suggests changing your CO alarm batteries two times a year: Once in the spring and once in the fall.
Learn More About Home Safety with Pagel & Associates Insurance
At Pagel & Associates Insurance, it is our goal to ensure that you and your family stay as safe and comfortable as possible in your home. Our agents are your advocates for any and all of your insurance needs.
Precautionary home safety steps can go a long way in providing optimal safety for you and your family. To learn more about protecting your home from fire or the insurance policies we offer, please feel free to contact us today.
