Get started with these fire safety tips

There are a number of online resources to learn more about fire safety.

For Lorain County residents, the North Eastern Ohio Fire Prevention Association and the Ohio Division of State Fire Marshal are two good places to find suggestions for safety. Local fire departments also have resources for education about fire safety and prevention.

There are a number of safety tips most people can do to prevent house fires. Here are some basic safety tips compiled by Avon Lake Fire Department Assistant Chief Jeffery K. Moore, Lorain Fire Department Lt. Steven Bajcer and Elyria Fire Department Fire Marshal Carl Mandoke.

Safety at home

Practice exit drills, especially for families with children.

Children do fire drills at school and may have a good idea about exiting calmly, going outside and gathering with their classmates and teachers, Moore said.

“They don’t always do that at home,” he said. “That’s why exit drills are so important.”

Consider using red and yellow stickers with the letter “I” and wheelchair logo on the front door of the house to signal a resident who is not mobile. The stickers are available from some fire departments.

Consider using “Child Finder” stickers on the front door and bedroom windows of children in a home.

Pet owners may opt to use “Pet Finder” stickers on front doors as well.

“If we can get to a pet, we’re going to pull them out, and we’ve done that many times,” Moore said. “But life safety is our first priority.”

Electrical safety

Examine your electrical cords and extension cords. The best are power strips with circuit breakers built in, Moore said.

For temporary use, get medium or heavy duty extension cords that have thicker internal wires.

Check the origins of your extension cords. Some products sold at discount stores may appear to be medium or heavy duty, but have inadequate wires inside.

Avoid “zip cords,” the extension cords often colored white or brown that plug into an outlet and have three sockets at the end. Those thin wires can be overloaded easily, Moore said.

Avoid “wiring” a room or a floor of your house with “zip cord” type extension cords.

Moore recounted seeing an example from his time as a Sheffield Lake firefighter, where a home that burned and its garage were wired with thin extension cords, including running a clothes dryer.

Kitchen safety

When food is cooking on the stove, pay attention to it.

Don’t store items in your oven. It is easy to forget they are there, then turn on the oven to preheat it and ignite those items.

Don’t use plastic containers to warm food in an oven.

Fire extinguishers

Have a fire extinguisher in your home.

Inspect it annually by checking its pressure gauge and pin that locks the handle to prevent discharging it.

Holding the extinguisher upside down, tap it on the bottom with your hand or a rubber mallet to break up any powder that may have clumped together inside.

“For home use, they last a long time,” Moore said.

Put fire extinguishers where they will be on the way to exits of a home.

If there is a fire, don’t let it get between you and your exit, Moore said.

Look for extinguishers rated for Type A, B and C fires for home use.

Moore added he likes extinguishers with a hose attached to its nozzle for better aim when spraying it.

For the holidays

For Thanksgiving, before deep frying a turkey, use water before the boiling pot gets hot to measure how much oil will fit in the pot with the turkey.

It will be easy to see how much water the turkey displaces. “That way, when it’s cooking, you know it’s not going to overflow,” Moore said. “That stuff (oil) overflows when it’s hot and hits those burners, it’s going up.”

If the weather is cold, don’t bring the deep fryer into the garage doorway to stay warm.

Don’t put small tea light candles on cloth or paper. When the candle burns down, the metal base attached to the wick can get hundreds of degrees hot and cause a fire.

Consider not using candles for holiday decorations. There are many types of inexpensive candle-lookalikes that use LED lights as an alternative to flames.

Safety bonus: Going out

As weather grows colder, many people spend more time inside their residences and in buildings used for public gatherings.

There are many tragic stories of people not at home, who get trapped when fire breaks out in buildings, Moore said.

When most people go to a theater or restaurant, in an emergency, they often think about exiting the same way they came in, he said.

When you go somewhere, take a minute to look around for alternate exits.

In an emergency situation, the closest exit may not be the same as the building entrance you came in, Moore said.