While the best way to prevent a fire in your home is, of course, to avoid playing with matches, there are still many other ways to make it a lot safer. This is typically something we start to think about if somebody we know just has experienced a fire or if we just experienced it ourselves – and it makes it quite clear that prevention is the key to keep fire at bay.
Here is a handful of great tips in terms of making your home a bit more fire-safe so that you and your family can feel secure. Share the tips with your friends, family members, and neighbours as well and you will have done your duty as a human.
Talk to your children about fire safety
Before we get started on all of the practical things you can do to make your home safer, it’s important to sit down with the kids and talk about fire safety. The point is that most house fires start because children are left unsupervised, get bored, and decide to literally play with fire – it’s not just something we say, in other words.
They may even know about the dangers before they light that match or try to set something on fire for the mere fun of it, but boredom challenges them to light it and, of course, think that they’re able to contain it. Sure, the small light flickering on the tip of a match doesn’t seem that scary – but, as a child, it’s hard to imagine just how much it can spread.
That’s why it’s so important that you talk about this with your children before putting everything that can cause a fire away. Those lighters and matches will, in other words, go on top of the cupboard or somewhere else that’s completely out of their reach.
Invest in fireproof furniture
Now we can move on to what you can actually do to make your home a lot safer. Furniture, for example, comes in all sorts of fabrics now that may prevent fire as it simply won’t light while the fire is spreading. The more you’re able to make this a part of your home, the less likely it is that the fire has the opportunity to consume your belongings – and it is, thereby, contained.
Keep in mind that this is something you can integrate in the structure of your home as well to make it even safer. There are insulated roof panels, for example, panels you can place in your walls, and, of course, a variety of curtains that are fireproof as well.
Choose what works for you and your budget but keep in mind that it shouldn’t be necessary to go all out with this. A little goes a long way and, as long as you’ve practised fire safety at home, chances are small that you’re going to experience an emergency.
Remember to create an emergency strategy for your family as well and practise what your household is going to do in case of a fire. Getting everyone out is, of course, the only focus and they should know about this too before they try to rescue their stuffed animals.
