Fire serves many purposes in our lives. It keeps us warm on cold winter days, allows us to cook delicious meals, it heats our water for cleaning and can add ambiance to your home. However, fire can also be dangerous if used in an unsafe manner. We at Hale’s Chimney Cleaning & Repair believe taking preventative measures to assure your home is safe from fire is of utmost importance. That’s why we proudly promote National Fire Prevention Week, held October 8th through October 14th this year.
National Fire Prevention Week
National Fire Prevention Week is a nationwide campaign developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) which is aimed at promoting fire safety awareness. First promoted in 1922 by the NFPA, National Fire Prevention Week commemorates the Great Chicago fire of 1871 in which 250 people died and 100,000 people were left homeless. In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed National Fire Prevention Week as a national health observance. During his proclamation, President Coolidge said that he was “startled” to realize that in the previous year, over 15,000 lives were lost to fires in the United States and stated “This waste results from the conditions which justify a sense of shame and horror; for the greater part of it could and ought to be prevented…” In 2015, there still was 2,560 fire related deaths in the United State. Although the numbers have dropped significantly, they are still too high. This is especially true when your realize that three out of every five of these deaths happened in homes with no working fire alarms.
What should I be doing to assure the safety of my family?
Every year the NFPA comes up with a theme for National Fire Prevention Week. This year the theme is, “Every second counts, find two ways out.” It emphasizes the importance of having two different escape routes from your home in case of a fire. Have a meeting with your entire family and look at a floor plan of your house. Decide on two safe routes out of the house for each one of your family members. Next, practice using these routes. Other family activities could include checking fire alarms and carbon monoxide detector batteries, practicing crawling low to the ground when leaving the smoky rooms, determining good family meeting places that are safe in case of a fire.
Another important step towards fire prevention is making sure your chimney and heating systems are all in working order. The best way to do this is to schedule an annual inspection with a Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) certified chimney sweep. If you have any questions about fire safety or annual chimney inspections, don’t hesitate to contact us at (972) 562-6851 or schedule an appointment with us today!