Whether relatives and friends stay for a short or long visit, it is important for families to take simple steps to make their homes safe, especially for young children and older adults.  These two groups are most at risk for home injury.

The Plano Fire Department and the Home Safety Council recommend that hosts find and fix home hazards while preparing for the holidays.  Once guests arrive, take time to review important safety precautions with them.  Practice them too!

• Check the lights over all stairways, hallways, porches and entries to ensure all bulbs are working and are bright enough to illuminate the entire area below.  Stick to the maximum safe wattage which is printed on the inside of the fixture.
• If tubs and showers don’t already have non-stick strips or mats in them, affix them now.  Put sturdy grab-bars inside the bathe and shower area.  Place nightlights inside bathrooms and in the hallways leading to them.
• If your guests will include toddlers, purchase safety gates and place them at the tops and bottoms of stairways.
• If you have an attached garage and/or fuel-burning heat or appliances, your home should have a carbon monoxide (CO) detector installed to protect sleeping areas.
• Post the local and national poison control hotline number, as well as other local emergency numbers near every telephone.  The National Poison Control Hotline number is 1-800-222-1222.
• To keep curious children safe, make sure all matches and lighters, medications, household cleaners, toiletries and other dangerous products are locked in a cabinet.  Keep products in original containers with child-proof closures intact.  Remember to keep purses, backpacks and luggage out of children’s reach too.
• Every home must have working smoke alarms on each level and protecting all the places people will be sleeping.  Test every smoke alarm and replace any dead or missing batteries.  If your alarms are ten years or more old, replace them.
• When guests arrive, walk through your home fire escape plan with them, pointing out primary and secondary exits and the outside meeting place.
• Prevent scalds by turning your hot water heater temperature to 120°F or less.
• When toddlers are visiting, use toilet seat locks to prevent drowning.  Be aware that buckets, spas, pools, ponds, tubs and all standing water are a serious drowning risk for very young children.
• Make guest rooms safe as well as welcoming.  Place a nightlight inside each room and the hallway outside it.  Provide each guest with a working flashlight if possible and place a telephone in each guest room as well.

October is Fire Prevention Month and more specifically the week that encompasses October 9th is always Fire Prevention Week.  Why October 9th?  Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire, the tragic 1871 conflagration that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres. The fire began on October 8, but continued into and did most of its damage on October 9, 1871.
In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson issued the first National Fire Prevention Day proclamation, and since 1922, Fire Prevention Week has been observed on the Sunday through Saturday period in which October 9 falls. According to the National Archives and Records Administration's Library Information Center, Fire Prevention Week is the longest running public health and safety observance on record. The President of the United States has signed a proclamation proclaiming a national observance during that week every year since 1925.

This year’s theme is “Prevent Home Fires” and the Plano Fire Department will be hosting an Open House at each Plano fire station on Thursday, October 9th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.  Families are invited to tour their neighborhood station, meet their firefighters and pick up fire and life safety information.

Your home should be a safe haven.  But do you regularly check for home fire hazards?  If not, there is the potential for danger.  Fire departments responded to nearly 400,000 home fires in 2006.  That’s why the theme of Fire Prevention Week 2008 is “It’s Fire Prevention Week: Prevent Home Fires!”

With a little extra caution, preventing the leading causes of home fires – cooking, heating, electrical and smoking-materials – is within your power!

Cooking Safety
• Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking.  If you leave the kitchen for even a short period time, turn off the stove.
• Keep anything that can catch fire away from your stovetop.

Electrical Safety
• Keep lamps, light fixtures, and light bulbs away from anything that can burn, such as lamp shades, bedding, curtains, and clothing.
• Replace cracked and damaged electrical cords.

Heating Safety
• Keep all things that can burn at least 3 feet away form heating equipment.
• Turn portable space heaters off when you go to bed or leave the room.

Smoking Safety
• If you smoke, smoke outside and use deep, sturdy ashtrays.
• Never smoke in a home where oxygen is used.
• Keep matches and lighters up high in a locked cabinet, out of the reach of children.

Candle Safety
• Keep candles at least 12 inches form anything that can burn and use sturdy, safe candleholders.
• Never leave a burning candle unattended.  Blow out candles when you leave a room.

Basic Home Safety
• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home.
• Test smoke alarms at least once a month using the test button.
• Replace smoke alarms every 10 years.
• Make sure everyone can hear the sound of the smoke alarms.
• Have a home fire escape plan.  Know at least two ways out of every room, if possible, and a meeting place outside.  Practice your escape plan twice a year.
• When the smoke alarm sounds, get out and stay out.

If you have any questions concerning fire and life safety information please contact the Plano Fire Department at 972-941-7421 or peggyha@plano.gov.

Recent incidents around the United States point to the dangers of dryer fires.  On average more than 13,000 fires start in laundry rooms in the United States each year, resulting in 10 deaths and $97 million in property damage.  Nearly 4,000 of these fires arise from lint buildup that occurs when people fail to clean their dryer vents.  The following advice can help you prevent a dryer fire.

• Flexible dryer ducts made of plastic or foil are the most problematic because they can sag and let lint build up at the low points.  Ridges also trap lint.  Metal ducts, either flexible or rigid, are far safer because they do not sag so lint is less likely to accumulate.  If a fire does start, a metal duct is more likely to contain it.

• No matter what type of duct you have, you should clean it regularly.  Clean the lint screen each time you use your dryer and discard any lint inside, behind, and underneath the dryer.  Doing this will not only reduce the risk of a fire, but your dryer will also dry your clothes faster and will use less energy in doing so.

• Take special care drying clothes stained with volatile chemicals such as gasoline, cooking oils, cleaning agents, or finishing oils or stains.  Wash the clothing more than once to minimize the amount of these chemicals on the clothing and line dry instead of using a dryer.

• Buy dryers that use moisture sensors rather than ordinary thermostats to end the auto-dry cycle.  Thermostats can allow the dryer to run longer than necessary.

• Most importantly, always remain in the house and awake while using your dryer.  Never leave the house or go to bed with the dryer running.

Click here for more fire safety & prevention information from the Plano Fire Department