Fire prevention: Plan two ways out
Another common fire hazard are clothes dryers that haven’t been cleaned properly – or run continuously for long periods of time.
Fire prevention week continues until this Sunday.
Practice your home fire escape plan with all members of the household at least twice a year.
To educate youth about fire prevention and life safety, the Tahlequah Fire Department has expanded Fire Prevention Week to the entire month of October, so all of Cherokee County can learn.
“When they burn, they burn rapidly, they generate smoke rapidly”. The newer synthetics create a much heavier, denser, acrid, toxic smoke.
During a fire, walking through your home won’t look the same.
-Close doors behind you as you leave – this may slow the spread of smoke, heat and fire. Also, try to not overload one socket with those space heaters or things like electric blankets.
“Nine-one-one”, said Grant.
“I have this past experience, during my Nampa days, of a young girl who we taught about smoke detectors”, Leighton recalled.
According to the National Institutes of Standards and Technology around 40 years ago when a fire alarm went off you would have around 17-30 minutes to safely get outside, today you only have around three minutes.
Simply having the detectors isn’t going to help with fire prevention if residents don’t check them regularly.
“You can teach them how to get out of a window; you can teach them how to go under the door crawl under the smoke”.
“Select a place where everybody meets up because you could have some people using different exits”, Forbush said.
The Forest View Gang Mills Fire Department was one of them and is traveling to local schools to get the word out on fire safety.
To prepare kids for a fire that they hope never happens, firefighters donned helmets and masks, demonstrating what their voices sound like through all the protective layers. That will be at Cache road and 28th street from 8 a.m. until noon. Many of them have smoke alarms on hand they can give you for free.