Whether you live in an area in the constant path of wildfires and fire danger, or you’ve never suffered a fire in your life, you should never be relaxed around a fire. Fires can happen at any time and they can cause a lot of suffering for both your home and the people inside of it.

In order to keep your home safe from a fire, you need to know and carry out some fire safety best practices. Here are some of the best practices that you need to know in order to keep your home safe from a fire.

Know where Your Fire Extinguisher Is, And Maintain It

Whether it is by the door, in the bathroom, or under the sink you need to know where your fire extinguisher is. Make sure that you have a spot for your fire extinguisher and it should be in an area where you can find it easily and also know how to use it. Additionally, know how to maintain the fire extinguisher because it can go bad.

You want to replace your fire extinguisher every 10 years, whether it is disposable or not, that way you can rely on it if the fire in your home can be put out by yourself.

Talk About Your Plan

A fire can be a massive crisis that can cause panic as you try to assess the fire, make sure family and pets are safe, and figure out how to get help. The best way to prevent panic during a fire is to have a plan beforehand.

Think about what you will grab, who is going to call 911, where you will meet in the event of a fire, and how you will handle things like small children or pets.

Giving everyone a role to play and letting them know what they need to do in order to keep themselves safe during a fire will help everyone handle the fire safely without panicking or reacting to the situation.

Getting Your Smoke Detectors Professionally Tested

You should check the batteries in your smoke detector every couple of months, by pushing the ‘test’ button and you should get a beep or a chirping sound from each detector. However, there are other professional ways to get your smoke detectors tested, and extensive smoke detector testing can give you the peace of mind that your early warning system is safe.

Professional testing typically has people come in with smoke generation machines that will attempt to trigger the smoke detector. Every single smoke detector has limits regarding what level of smoke will trigger it (which prevents small amounts of smoke like smoke from candles from triggering the alarm).

If the smoke detector is triggered within those limits, then the detector is working as intended. If it is not triggered, then you will need to replace the smoke detector with one that works, and the testing will help you learn if your smoke detector needs to be replaced.

Remain Calm

While a fire might happen in your home due to a natural disaster, or an accident, or it might never happen at all, you should always be prepared for one. By practicing the best practices that will mitigate a fire and keep you safe in case a fire does happen, everything and everyone you love will be kept safe.

Keep calm during a fire and follow the plan you have laid out, and if you’ve done your maintenance on your smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, you will have the tools you need to protect yourself.