GPW Public Safety Shares Fire Safety Tips, Tours, Fall Treats At Open House

Families learned important fire safety tips in a festive setting Sunday as Grosse Pointe Public Safety hosted the annual open house.

According to a release from the State of Michigan:

In 2012, home fires killed more than 58 people in Michigan. Fire departments throughout the state responded to 15,256 home fires, according to the National Fire Incident Reporting System. Cooking equipment, heating and electrical equipment, smoking materials, and lit candles are among the leading causes of all reported home fires.   

“Cook with Caution” by following a few safety tips to prevent kitchen fires:

• Stay in the kitchen while you are frying, grilling, or broiling food.
• Turn off the stove if you must leave the kitchen even for a short period of time.
• If you are simmering, baking, roasting, or boiling food, check it regularly and set a timer to remind you that you are cooking.
• When you cook, wear clothing with tight-fitting sleeves. 
• Keep anything that can catch fire - oven mitts, wooden utensils, food packaging, towels or curtains -- away from your stovetop.
• If you have young children, use the stove’s back burners whenever possible.  Keep kids at least three feet away from the stove.
• Clean up food and grease from burners and stovetops.
• Keep a fully charged fire extinguisher in or near the kitchen and be prepared to use it in an emergency. 

If You Have A Cooking Fire...

• Keep a lid nearby when you're cooking to smother small grease fires.  Smother the fire by sliding the lid over the pan and turn off the stovetop.  Leave the pan covered until it is completely cooled.
• For an oven fire, turn off the heat and keep the door closed.      
• Call 9-1-1 to alert the local fire department.
• Just get out!  When you leave, close the door behind you to help contain the fire.

Nearly two-thirds of home structure fire deaths occur in homes where there is no smoke alarm or where smoke alarms are present but fail to operate because the batteries have been removed, according to the state fire marshal. Having working smoke alarms cuts the risk of dying in reported home fires in half and having automatic fire sprinkler systems in the home cuts the risk of dying in a home fire by about 80 percent.

Smoke alarms should be tested at least once a month using the test button and the batteries replaced every year. 

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), less than 25 percent of American households have developed and practiced a fire escape plan to be prepared for a real emergency.   

When developing a home fire escape plan:

• Draw a map of each level of your home and show all doors and windows.  Find two ways to get out of each room. Know the safest exit route.
• Make sure all doors and windows that lead outside open easily and that every family member understands and practices how to properly operate and open locked windows and doors.
• Practice crawling low -- necessary for escaping through smoke which contains toxic gases, which can disorient you or, at worst, overcome you. 
• Designate a safe meeting location a safe distance in front of your home where everyone can meet once they have escaped, such as at the end of the driveway. 
• Never go back into a burning home for any reason.
• Make sure everyone in your home knows how to call 9-1-1 or the local emergency number.