Effective Fire Prevention Measures in the Home 2

info.dooasia.com

Homepage | Add to Favorites

Related Links

Informative Articles

13 ways to save your furniture from cat scratching
The cats are great pets. They love to play, they love to cuddle when you are watching TV or sleeping, and they purr for no reason other than being near you. But they also love to scratch. Unfortunately, the things they love to scratch are often the...

Chinchillas As Pets
CHINCHILLAS You may wish to consider a chinchilla. They are in the rodent family, (but it doesn't seem that way). Chins have incredible velvety fir, and they resemble a chubby squirrel with micky mouse type ears. They are nocturnal,...

Do You Know What's Really In Your Pets Food?
The pet food industry, a billion-dollar, unregulated operation, feeds on the garbage that otherwise would wind up in landfills or be transformed into fertilizer. The hidden ingredients in a can of commercial pet food may include road...

Sexy Plus Size Lingerie For The Well-Built Woman
There was a time that oversized women would probably wear flannel nightgowns upon retiring at night but that has all changed into the sexy plus size lingerie that you find on the market today. Beautiful lingerie is not only made for the Skinny...

Sharing Journals
Sharing Journals By Doreene Clement www.the5yearjournal.com info@the5yearjournal.com Creating a journal, diary, or diaries that combines scrapbooking and journaling, is a journal that you can share. Writing about experiences and feelings, and...

Effective Fire Prevention Measures in the Home 2

Although we can do our utmost to prevent fires from happening by
isolating the sources of heat from combustibles and oxygen, it is
often the unexpected event that catches us unawares.

Carelessness

Sometimes, forgetfulness can result in an accidental fire. Putting a
kettle to boil water on a gas stove and forgetting about it can be
disastrous. When all the water has evaporated, the kettle becomes red
hot, melt and spread the molten metal around.

LP gas leaks are also dangerous. If the fuel-air mixture is in just
the right proportion, an explosion can occur when a heat source is
introduced in. Many accidents have occurred when a light is switched on
in an explosive environment. The correct thing to do then is to free the
room of any gas by shutting off the source of the gas and letting in more
fresh air into the room.

Chemical reactions can also cause heat and fire. Mixing acids and
alkalis, mixing components of some household glue like epoxy resins and
hardeners can generate quite a substantial amount of heat that can lead
to fires. The containers used and the amount of chemical used can have a
great effect on the heat produced. Plastic containers are known to melt
and burn when large quantities of thermosetting plastics like epoxies are
mixed with hardeners.

Fires are also known to be started by the careless smokers who throw
lighted cigarette butts indiscriminately. Many bush fires are started
this way. Some areas are especially vulnerable to careless acts like
these. People working in the garage at home should be very careful not
to cause a fire, especially with open petrol cans and other volatile
fuels around them. Sometimes, smokers fall asleep while smoking, and
their bed or sofa catches fire. The rubber foam mattress used for
bedding can catch fire easily.

Although most electrical equipment is quite safe as far as fire is
concerned, the use of sub-standard and poorly designed equipment may
give rise to overheating and fires. Carelessness in the area of
electrical appliances can cause fires as well as electrical shocks.
Many households use multiple power points because they have many
electrical equipment that must be used at the same time. Videos,
television, fans, radios, and fancy lights may occupy only one
electrical socket. When a multiple adapter is used, usually the
connection pins cannot be fitted very tightly. The loose power
connections are a source of sparking and deterioration of the insulation
materials and can lead to fires.

This will be worst if high powered appliances are used because the
electrical current drawn from these will be very much higher and so the
wires and connections gets hotter.

Preventive Measures

Since we know that all the three conditions of heat, fuel and oxygen
must be present in order for a fire to start; our basic fire prevention
strategy must be to keep them isolated from each other. Heat sources
must be kept away from combustible materials and if possible, from
oxygen.

We should take a critical look at all the sources of heat in the home.
They are the potential fire hazards. It is good to make an audit of our
own homes and make a list, or at least be aware of all the heat sources
in the home. Electrical wiring, appliances, gas stoves, kerosene lamps,
candles, electrical light bulbs, ovens, electrical kettles, barbecue
fires, burning garden refuse, and so on, are some of them. Even spells
of dry weather should be looked at with vigilance.

The sources of heat are many. Below are some of the sources of heat
that we have to exercise caution, so that we can be especially careful
not to let them come into contact with combustibles:

· Kitchen Gas Appliances - The normal appliances in the kitchen are the
gas stoves, and the kerosene stoves. These are normally safe, efficient
and seldom gives trouble. However, the conditions of the kitchen stoves
are often spoilt by spillage of soups, gravies, and other food materials
from the cooking processes. After a long time of use, and especially
with cooks who do not take special precautions, the gas stove become
blackened with carbon, oil and other debris. Gas orifices and nozzles
get choked up. Carbon deposits pile up. The carbon deposits become its
other source of fuel. The soot fire can burn if it is heated long
enough.

The environment in a busy kitchen can make it a fire risk. Gas hoses
are especially prone to deteriorate if the material used can be attacked
by the presence of oil. Cooking oil is ever present in the kitchen
environment. Hoses coated by a layer of oil will produce leaks. Any leak
in the gas hoses is dangerous. It can shoot flames of fire all around
the place uncontrollably and spread the fire.

Do a regular check on your gas hoses and service your gas stove regularly.

· Electrical Installations and Appliances - Mains electrical wiring and
their components can be a hidden source of heat that can cause a fire.
Sometimes, due to loose contacts in the terminals of electrical
switchboxes, some sparking will occur. If this is not found out early and
rectified, the sparking will become worse, and the heat produced becomes
more. Carbonization of the insulation materials will occur. Once the
carbon gets deposited on the insulation materials, it becomes a conductor
of electricity. Short-circuiting of the electrical wiring will occur
leading to overheating of the wiring. If the electrical protection
devices do not work, the overheating will cause the insulation materials
of the wiring to even melt or decompose. When the decomposition gases
given out by the insulation materials catch fire, the whole house can be
burnt down.

Do a regular check up of your electrical wiring in your house, and
quickly call in a qualified electrician to rectify any fault.

Electrical appliances also have to be used properly. When people modify
equipment indiscriminately, sometimes they leave out or bypass certain
safety features put in by the manufacturer. Appliances can become
overheated and cause burning. It is better not to do any modification
unless you know what you are doing.

Do not do bypass any safety feature in any electrical appliance.

· Burning of candles, garden refuse, incense, mosquito coils and
other open burning - The sources of heat is quite obvious. When we do

any open burning, make sure that the source of heat is not able to
reach other surrounding materials. It is good practice to clear the area
before doing open burning. We must also think about how to control the
fire if it gets too big. Be ready to dose the fire with water if it gets
too big.

We know that we need a source of heat, a fuel, and oxygen in order to
have a fire. Other than looking at all the places where we encounter
sources of heat, it is good preventive practice to store easily
combustible materials safely. Some materials do not need a lot of heat
in order to ignite, while some materials can be kept at quite high
temperatures without any fire occurring. We need to identify the easily
combustible materials and keep them out of harms way.

Some materials in the home are known to be easily combustible. It is
advisable to store these materials in a cool and isolated place away
from the house if possible. Should a fire occur by any chance, they
will have less opportunity to spread. Below are a list of commonly used
inflammable materials in the home. However, the list is not exhaustible:

· Paints, turpentine, spirit, aerosols for spray paints.
· Kerosene, petrol, diesel, and other oils used for fuel.
· Aerosols used for pesticides
· Paper and wood, especially when dry
· Vegetable oils used in cooking
· Other solvents like nail polish

There are other materials that can catch fire if brought to a source
of heat. Some of them are listed below. The best way to handle these is
to do regular house cleaning to remove them:

· Loose organic dust like sawdust, cotton dust, woolen dust
· Oily deposits from the atmosphere
· Dust and deposits from insects

Involving Others

Sometimes, even though we have taken all the precautions, fires can
still come from a neighbor's house. Sometimes, it can even come from
the sky in the form of fireworks! Sometimes the sparks from a neighbor's
rubbish fire can fly over to your own home and cause a fire.

So it is simply not enough that you alone know how to prevent fires.
The people around you should also know about fire prevention.

Everybody needs to be educated in fire prevention. When a fire happens
in the neighborhood, there is a very real possibility that the fire can
spread to the surrounding houses. It is essential that no fires at all
start in any of the houses in the neighborhood or even the community.

When everyone understands the grave consequences of their actions, the
fire risk becomes more manageable.

Children are especially high potential fire starters if they are not
taught about the risks. With their natural curiosity, playing with fire
comes naturally to them at some point in their life. Adults have the
responsibility to impart the knowledge of fire prevention and the
consequences of fire to them quite early in their growing up years.

In order for adults to have this knowledge themselves, the relevant
authorities should organize courses on fire safety and fire safety
awareness campaigns. The media, including newspapers, magazines,
television and radio, has an important role to play in getting the
message of fire prevention to the general public. Their message should
be able to reach the masses and ingrain in them the importance of fire
prevention.

The message of fire prevention should be delivered continuously over a
long period of time. A fire safety campaign should only be considered
successful when people considers fire prevention a natural thing to do.
It must become habit and a daily way of life. Then only can lives and
properties be secured.

The knowledge of fire prevention is even more important than fire
detection and fire fighting. If a fire does not start, or is prevented
from starting, there is no longer any need for fire detection and fire
fighting. Everybody should be preventing fires even before it can start.

Is prevention enough?

Sometimes, we have done the best we can. We have isolated the sources
of heat. We have stored away inflammable materials away from sources
of heat. We have done whatever we can to the best of our knowledge.

Can a fire still start?

Incidents of fire can still happen. For example, a mouse in your house
may decide to chew on your highly powered electrical wires, or a lizard
may managed to crawl into your electrical switchboard and cause a short
circuit, or the hot weather may cause the weeds and bushes around your
house to catch fire.

So while steps taken for the prevention of fires will keep us safe most
of the time, it is also good to be prepared in case a fire still starts
despite our actions.

There are portable smoke detectors available in the market for those who
want to have an early warning when a fire starts. This can in fact be
considered prevention too - preventing a large fire. These smoke
detectors will be able to alert the occupants about any small fires so
that it can be put off before it becomes large and unmanageable. It can
prevent loss of property and lives. Any fires detected early have a
very good chance of being extinguished.

It is also good to keep a portable fire extinguisher at home for the
purpose of putting out small fires. For the home, the most suitable
portable fire extinguisher to keep is a dry powder extinguisher because
it will be able to handle all the likely classes of fires found in the
home. It can be used to put out fires involving solid materials like
wood and paper, oils and even electrical fires without the risk of
electrical shocks.

In conclusion, when we are able to instill awareness of fire prevention
to all the people around us, we will have won the battle with fire.
Fire becomes our ally and we can tap its benefits without worrying about
its consequences.

Fire becomes our friend and not our foe.

Protect your home with Fire Alarms at Smoke Detector

About the Author

Many years of working experience in Marine, Facilities,
Construction has given the author material for writing e-books
and articles related to engineering, and management. Subscribe to facworld ezine
More information at Marine and M & E

PetSmart - Pet supplies and pet products for healthier, happier pets

Offering food, treats, collars, leashes, health products, shampoos, medication, toys, carriers, housing and other supplies for all pets.

www.petsmart.com

Pets 4 You.com - Dogs | Cats

A large resource for animal enthusiasts with a directory of breeders and links to sources offering pet supplies and products, and to rescues and shelters.

www.pets4you.com

Yahoo! Pets

Learn how to care for a new pet. Find information about breeds or adopt a dog. ... What questions on pets or pet nutrition do you have today? ...

pets.yahoo.com

Welcome to Healthypet.com!

Pet care resources by the American Animal Hospital Association to find a veterinarian, veterinary clinic or animal hospital for pets and provide pet care ...

www.healthypet.com

Dogs & Puppies - Next Day Pets

Directory of breeders and shelters with dogs and puppies for sale and pets for adoption. Search dogs and puppies by breed with information on 150+ dog ...

www.nextdaypets.com

Petfinder.com: Adopt a pet and help an animal shelter rescue a ...

Adopt a pet dog or cat from animal welfare organizations across the country.

www.petfinder.com

Welcome to Neopets!

A virtual pet website where visitors may adopt and care for pets, as well as play games and participate in contests, communities, and combat simulations.

www.neopets.com

Chicago Tribune | Pets

Click one of the buttons to show pets within that category. Click here to show all pets for sale. Search Tips. (e.g., Beagle, Persian) ...

www.legacy.com

Pet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A pet is an animal kept for companionship and enjoyment, as opposed to ... Some horse-like animals are suitable for human companionship as pets or as work ...

en.wikipedia.org

Pets - Pet Breeders Pet Information Pet Classifieds

Pets - Pet, Hobby and Show Animals Pets Online Has Puppies For Sale, Pet Products, Pet Shops.

www.mypets.net.au

Defra, UK - Animal health and welfare - Bringing pets to Britain

Travel guide and information on qualifications, requirements, and fees for bringing a pet into the UK.

www.defra.gov.uk

Defra, UK - Animal health and welfare - Pet Travel Scheme

The Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) is the system that allows pet dogs, ... For travel to France, the passport also replaces the PETS 5 certificate. ...

www.defra.gov.uk

Indiatimes - Pets

/photo.cms?msid=968871. You can post him queries and problems about your pets. ... Other beautiful animals: pets, wild cats & butterflies. PET ZODIACS ...

pets.indiatimes.com

AVMA Care for Pets Home Page

Articles that tell how to select a pet, how to care for various types of pets, and how to cope with the death of a pet. Includes a section just for kids.

www.avma.org

Dog and Pet T-Shirts and Gifts at CafePress.com : Shop Over 35 ...

Pet Gifts. Pet Gifts. Pet owners unite with fun t-shirts, hats and more. See all results... Categories within Pet Gifts ...

www.cafepress.com

Pet Lover Gifts : Find & Buy Gifts at CafePress.com

Shop millions of unique and custom pet designs - such as dog, cat, bunny, horse and other animals - available on t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, posters, ...

www.cafepress.com

PETS 911 pet adoptions thru local animal shelters

Offers hotline for lost and found pets, adoption, veterinarians, and animal shelters.

www.pets911.com

Pets

Most of us think of adopting pets for all the wrong reasons.. as a ... Pets has a way of listening without judging and loving its owner unconditionally. ...