Home Emergency and Fire Extinguishers
No one likes to contemplate home fires or accidents, however they do happen. If you have to correct devices and know what to do it can mean the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones.
Develop an escape route and make sure everyone in your family knows it and practices fire drills. If you have an elderly or handicapped person in your home, be sure to consider how they will be evacuated.
Smoke and gases can be more deadly than the fire flames. If you find the room is filled with smoke tie a rag (wet if possible) around you face to filter the fumes. Smoke rises so crawl on your hands and knees to get out. What ever you do, keep moving because lethal gases can collect on the floor also.
You should have at least one fire extinguisher in the main areas of your home. There are many kinds with different purposes therefore you need to decipher what each label code means in order to buy the right kind for each room. Here are the different types:
- A is ordinary combustibles like wood, paper, and cloth
- B is flammable liquids, such as gasoline or cooking oil
- C is live electricity.
In the fine print on the label, these letters are preceded by numbers which are the extinguisher’s classification rating. They are assigned by Underwriters Laboratories and tell the extinguisher’s relative effectiveness against each type of fire, regardless of its weight or the chemical it uses. The higher number will indicate the greater effectiveness. For an example, a 4-A rated extinguisher will combat a wood fire better than one rated 2-A. There are different sizes: a small 2-pound canister is fine for the car, but you’ll probably want a big 10-pounder for an area you may feel susceptible for a fire. Each area of your home will have its own requirement.
It is essential that you have a smoke detector in the main areas of your home. In the kitchen you want a silencer or “hush” feature that lets you shut it off when cooking; it will cycle back on after an allotted time period. In hallways and bedrooms buy one that has a built in emergency light that comes on when the alarm is triggered.
Category: Home maintenance, Uncategorized
