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Home Safety & Emergency Preparedness
Most fire related incidents that occur in the home and nearly all home fires are preventable in one way or another. Each of us can share the responsibility of keeping fires from starting in our homes and keeping our families fire safe.
- Home Winter Safety
- Smoke & CO Alarms
- Fire Extinguishers
- Electrical Safety
- Disaster & Emergency Preparedness
The winter months are the leading time of year for home fires. To help you stay safe, we’re providing a few safety tips and information on cooking, heating, candles and holiday decorating – factors that contribute to the increased risk of home fires in the months ahead.
How can I protect my family?
Cooking
How can I protect my family?
Cooking
- It’s important to be alert when cooking in order to prevent cooking fires.
- Keep an eye on what you fry... Always stay in the kitchen while you cook!
- Always keep a fire extinguisher handy in the kitchen.
- Check Before you Burn... from November 1 through the end of February, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District issues a daily residential wood-burning status. Call 1-800-SMOG INFO (766-4463) or visit www.valleyair.org.
- Fire grows at a rapid rate and can get out of hand in an instant, therefore keep fires small and in the fireplace.
- Never burn trash, paper or other materials not designed to burn in fireplaces. Doing so is illegal and hazardous.
- Discard ashes into a closed metal container, fill with water and store outside away from your home.
- Is your furnace winter ready? Contact a home heating specialist or contractor to insure your home is safe and warm this season.
- If you choose to use a portable space heater in your home make sure to keep it three feet from items that can catch on fire and ensure your heater has the automatic turn off function if it should tip over.
- Keep the portable space heater’s power supply cord away from high-traffic areas in your home. You don’t want people walking on or tripping over the cord.
- Turn off space heaters when you are not in the room or when you go to sleep.
- Never use a gas or charcoal grill or camp stove to heat your home, even for a short amount of time, they can be a fire hazard as well as a source of toxic fumes.
- Place all candles securely in non-tip candle holders.
- Keep candles well away from your holiday tree, holiday decorations, curtains or other combustibles.
- Avoid leaving candles unattended or in reach of small children and pets.
- Remember to blow-out or extinguish candles prior to going to bed.
Christmas Tree Safety
- Choose a tree with fresh, green needles that do not fall off when touched.
- Before placing the tree in the stand, cut two inches from the base of the trunk and add water daily.
- Make sure that the tree is at least three feet from any heat source such as fireplaces, candles, heat vents and portable space heaters.
- Get rid of the tree after Christmas or when it is dry. Dried-out trees are a fire
danger and should not be left in the home or garage, or placed outside against the home. - Christmas trees will be picked up in conjunction with the Leaf Pickup Schedule. If trees are over five feet tall, they must be cut in half in order to be picked up. Tree pick-ups will occur between January 2 and January 31, 2015. For additional information on the schedule, contact Public Works at 209-895-8060.
Decorative Lighting
- Use lights that bear the label of an independent testing laboratory.
- Identify any cracked, frayed, loose or otherwise damaged light strands and discard them.
- Avoid running extension cords under carpets, across doorways or near heat sources.
- Never use staples or nails to hang lights due to possibly damaging light strands; instead install plastic hooks or clips designed especially for lights.
- Always unplug decorative lights when leaving the home or before going to sleep.
Do you have smoke alarms or detectors in your home and do they work? Properly installed and maintained smoke alarms provide early warning of a fire. When there is a fire in your home, you are twice as likely to escape and survive when you have working smoke alarms. Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
How can I protect my family?
How can I protect my family?
- For minimum protection, install a smoke alarm on every level of your home and in each of your bedrooms or sleeping areas. Install per manufacturer's recommendations.
- Test your smoke alarms every month by pressing the TEST button to make sure the alarm sounds.
- Occasionally dust or lightly vacuum the exterior of the alarm.
- Replace the battery every year. Better yet, twice a year – when you change your clocks in the spring and fall.
- When a smoke alarm sounds, get outside and stay outside.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless, deadly gas created when fuels such as gasoline, wood, natural gas, propane and others burn incompletely. In the home, heating and cooking equipment that burn fuel are potential sources of carbon monoxide. Vehicles or generators running in an attached garage can also produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Because you can’t see it, taste it or smell it, carbon monoxide can kill you before you know it’s there. In 2010, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 80,100 non-fire CO incidents in which carbon monoxide was found, or an average of nine such calls per hour.
How can I protect my family?
How can I protect my family?
- CO alarms are not a substitute for smoke alarms. Install both types of alarms in your home. Install per manufacturer's recommendations.
- Install at least one carbon monoxide alarm with an audible warning signal on every level of your home near the sleeping areas.
- Occasionally dust or lightly vacuum the exterior of the alarm.
- Test CO alarms at least once a month by pressing the TEST button.
- CO alarm batteries should be replaced at least once a year.
- Never use the following inside homes, garages and other closed spaces, or outside an open window: generator, charcoal grill, camp stove, vehicle or other gas engine. These can produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.
- Never use a gas oven to heat your home, even for a short amount of time.
A portable fire extinguisher can save lives and property by putting out a small fire or containing it until the fire department arrives; but portable extinguishers have limitations. Because fire grows and spreads so rapidly, the number one priority for residents is to get out safely.
How can I protect my family?
How can I protect my family?
- For the home, select a multi-purpose extinguisher (can be used on all types of home fires) that is large enough to put out a small fire, but not so heavy as to be difficult to handle. A typical home of office fire extinguisher should have an ABC rating.
- Read the instructions that come with the fire extinguisher and become familiar with its parts and operation before a fire breaks out.
- Install fire extinguishers close to an exit.
- Use a portable fire extinguisher when the fire is confined to a small area, such as a wastebasket, and is not growing
- To operate a fire extinguisher, remember the word PASS:
- (P) Pull the pin. Hold the extinguisher with the nozzle pointing away from you, and release the locking mechanism.
- (A) Aim low. Point the extinguisher at the base of the fire.
- (S) Squeeze the lever slowly and evenly.
- (S) Sweep the nozzle from side-to-side.
- Keep your back to a clear exit when you use the device so you can make an easy escape if the fire cannot be controlled. If the room fills with smoke, leave immediately.
- Extinguishers should be inspected and serviced based upon the manufacturer's service schedule. Rechargeable models must be serviced after every use. Disposable fire extinguishers can be used only once, then must be replaced.
Electricity makes our lives easier. Flipping a light switch. Plugging in a small kitchen appliance. Charging our mobile devices. These are second nature for most of us. However, we need to be cautious and keep safety in mind in and around our home. During 2007 to 2011, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated annual average of 47,820 reported home structure fires involving electrical failure or malfunction, some leading to serious injuries and death. Below are some general precautions you can take.
How can I protect my family?
How can I protect my family?
- Power strips do not provide more power to a location, just more access to the same limited capacity of the circuit into which it is connected. Therefore, do not overload them. A heavy reliance on power strips in an indication that you have too few outlets to address your needs. Have additional outlets installed by a qualified electrician where you need them.
- Replace or repair damaged, loose or frayed electrical cords and or extension cords.
- Avoid running extension cords across doorways or under carpets.
- Extension cords are intended for temporary use. Consider having additional circuits or outlets added by a qualified electrician so you do not have to use extension cords.
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions for plugging an appliance into a receptacle outlet.
- Avoid overloading outlets. Plug only one high-wattage appliance into each receptacle outlet at a time.
- If outlets or switches feel warm, frequent problems with tripping circuits, or flickering or dimming lights, call a qualified electrician.
- If not already installed, consider upgrading outlets to tamper-resistant (TR) receptacles by a qualified electrician. TR receptacles feature an internal shutter mechanism to prevent small children from inserting foreign objects into them.
- Make sure your home has ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI's) in the kitchen, bathroom(s), laundry and outdoor areas to reduce the risk of electrical shock.
- Consider having arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCI's) installed by a qualified electrician which recognize electrical surges or hazards and immediately shut off the power to the electrical outlets on the same circuit.
- Label circuit breakers on the electrical panel so that if there is an emergency, you can shut off power to that area of your home.
- Maintain a working clearance around your electrical panel for quick and easy access in case of an emergency.
- NEVER try to power the house wiring by plugging the generator into a wall outlet. This practice, known as "backfeeding," is extremely dangerous as it presents an electrocution risk and bypasses some of the built-in household circuit protection devices.
The next time disaster strikes, you may not have much time to act. Prepare now for a sudden emergency. Emergency preparedness is everyone's job. Not just government agencies but all sectors of society as well as every individual citizen should plan ahead for a disaster. By being prepared with some basic supplies, we can lessen the effects of a disaster and help sustain ourselves and our community until assistance can arrive.
How can I protect my family?
Additional emergency preparedness information can also be found at our Community Emergency Response Team page or at ready.gov.
How can I protect my family?
- Make a plan. Your family may not be together when a disaster strikes so it is important to plan in advance: how you will get to a safe place; how you will contact one another; how you will get back together; and what you will do in different situations.
- Build a disaster supply kit with enough supplies for at least 72 hours. A basic emergency supply kit should include:
- Water - one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation.
- Food - at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food.
- Battery-powered or hand crank radio extra batteries.
- Flashlight and extra batteries.
- Basic first aid kit and supplies including medication.
- Whistle to signal for help.
- Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place if needed.
- Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation.
- Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities.
- Manual can opener for food.
- Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger.
- Keep this kit in a designated place and have it ready in case you have to leave your home quickly. Make sure all family members know where the kit is kept.
Additional emergency preparedness information can also be found at our Community Emergency Response Team page or at ready.gov.