home fire safety tips

What do you need to do to make your home fire-safe?

Mainly common sense: shutting off appliances after you've used them, keeping flammable items away from furnaces and space heaters, and making smoke detectors and fire extinguishers a part of your home decor.

The best fire extinguisheris an easy-to-handle 2- or 5-pound (1 or 2.5kg) model designed to put out most household fires.

Place one in your kitchen and one in any other room where a fire might start.

Home Fire Safety Tips for Evenings

Have a fireplace screen to keep embers from escaping and possibly catching fire.

One of the easiest precautions your family can take to be fire safe at night is to sleep with bedroom doors closed. Closed doors can keep smoke and fire from spreading into these rooms, potentially allowing you more time to escape.

Install a fireplace screen, and have your fireplace chimney and flue cleaned at least once a year. Maintain the kitchen stove in good working condition, and keep baking soda on hand to extinguish stove-top fires.

In the garage, disconnect electrical tools and appliances when you're finished using them. Secure important papers in water- and fireproof strongboxes. Better yet: Put them in a safe deposit box off-site.