Home fire safety tips protecting your home and family from fire requires planning!

General home safety

• Check smoke detectors the first or last day of every month by testing them with a well-aimed poke from a broomstick. Change batteries when you turn your clocks forward or backward for daylight savings time.
• Keep your stove company. Kitchen fires often occur when wandering cooks forget that they are cooking. When cooking, wear short or close-fitting sleeves to prevent clothing from catching fire.
• Keep furniture away from windows so that children can be prevented from tumbling out an open window. Drawers have been used by children as stairs so be sure to anchor tall chests to walls to prevent them from falling over. This will also be helpful in case of an earthquake.
• Use a step-stool or ladder with nonslip treads, a safety rail and rubber-capped feet instead of climbing on a chair, counter or table to change light bulbs or grab something out of reach.
• Stairs should be used only for feet, not for storage of toys, laundry, etc

Be kitchen wise

• Never leave cooking unattended.
• Wear clothes with tight fitting sleeves when cooking.
• Always set a kitchen timer to remind you to turn off burners and/or oven.
• Keep stove surfaces free of clutter and built-up grease.
• Always have a lid or some type of non-combustible flat surface to put over a pan fire so that it will be smothered out.
• Never pick up and run with a pan fire that has the potential to spread the fire even further.

Install smoke detectors

• Be sure to have smoke detectors in all sleeping areas and on every level of your home including the basement.
• Have a smoke detector either in each bedroom or in the hall adjacent to the bedroom.
• Test the batteries in your smoke detectors monthly, and replace your batteries when you turn your clocks forward or back for daylight saving time.
• If you are hearing impaired, use a tested and approved smoke detector that triggers a strobe light.

Family escape plan

• Have an escape plan and have everyone in the family practice the plan:
• Know two ways out of each room (think doors and windows).
• Have a meeting spot outside the house.
• Have all members of the family practice "Stop, Drop and Roll."

Give space heaters space

• Keep electric or any type of portable space heater at least 3-feet from everything, including you! Just brushing against one could set your clothing on fire.

Prevent clothes dryer fires

The National Fire Protection Association reports approximately 14,100 fires per year that are caused by improperly venting a dryer or careless maintenance procedures. Tips for dryer safety:

• Prevent fires with proper dryer duct installation. The dryer duct should vent directly outdoors - never to a room inside the house. Venting a gas dryer inside is especially dangerous because the air discharge can contain a combination of combustible gases.
• Avoid using plastic duct work because it could ignite or melt. Instead, install a hard metal duct from the dryer to the outside of the house.
• Keep the duct free of lint to help reduce the chance of fire spreading outside the dryer and into the vent. Never attempt to dismantle a dryer to clean the line between the dryer drum and the heat element. Contact a professional to do that type of work.
• Use dryer vents constructed of non-flexible metal that contain as few bends as possible.
• Clean the lint trap after every use.
• Call a professional if your dryer is not working properly.
• Install a smoke detector near your laundry room.

Candles

• Never leave burning candles unattended and always have them in or on a non-combustible surface and away from any combustible surface.
• Don't place lighted candles near paper, draperies or clothing and never leave papers near a furnace or fireplace
• Better yet, toss out the candles. For emergency lighting during power failures use flashlight or battery-powered lanterns.

Be smoker wary

• Use large, deep, non-tipping ashtrays. Empty ashtrays often, wetting the contents before dumping into the trash. Never smoke in bed.

The Rome Fire Department wants you, your family and your neighbors to have a healthy, happy and most of all, safe, fall and winter!!!