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Tinker Fire and Emergency Services observes Fire Prevention Week

  • Published
  • By Capt. Shawn Mosshammer
  • Tiner Fire and Emergency Services
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE - Okla. --  Last week, Tinker Fire and Emergency Services observed National Fire Prevention Week by visiting several locations across base and offering valuable, life-saving information.

This year's theme was "Working smoke alarms save lives: test yours every month." Smoke alarms are one of the easiest, cheapest prevention tools. While they do not prevent fires, they do prevent deaths. National Fire Protection Association statistics show that smoke alarms cut the risk of death by 50 percent. Almost 60 percent of home fire deaths from 2007 to 2011 resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. When smoke alarms fail to operate, it is usually because batteries are missing, disconnected or dead.

While smoking is the leading cause for home fire deaths, cooking is the leading cause for home fires, followed by heating equipment.

In 2011, U.S. fire departments responded to 370,000 home structure fires. These fires caused 13,910 injuries, 2,520 deaths and $6.9 billion in direct damage. The vast majority of these fires were preventable, by making simple changes in our lifestyles.
Taking a second look or second thought could have saved most of these lives. It's called Risk Management and people use it every day at work on military installations, with more and more civilian organizations and companies employing these same principles. However for some reason when people go home, these practices are left at the door more often than not.

While nearly 75 percent of Americans have an escape plan, only 33 percent practice their plan. Everyone knows that the start/end of day light savings is when they should change the batteries in smoke alarms, but how often are alarms tested in between? So, for just over $1 per detector or half the price of a cup of coffee, more than 1,000 lives could potentially be saved a year. By eliminating unattended cooking and keeping combustibles away from the stove, two out of five home fires could be prevented and more than $200 million in damages avoided each year. If manufacturer's recommendations with space heaters (portable or fixed) and wood stoves were followed, people could see a reduction of heating related deaths by as much as 80 percent.

Smoke alarms are a key part of a home fire escape plan. When there is a fire, smoke spreads fast. Working smoke alarms give you early warning so you can get outside quickly.

The National Fire Protection Association offers the following safety tips to start people on their way to good risk management.

· Install smoke alarms inside and outside each bedroom, on every level of the home and in the basement.
· Large homes may need extra smoke alarms.
· It is best to use interconnected smoke alarms. When one smoke alarm sounds they all sound.
· Test all smoke alarms at least once a month. Press the test button to be sure the alarm is working.
· There are two kinds of alarms. Ionization smoke alarms are quicker to warn about flaming fires. Photoelectric alarms are quicker to warn about smoldering fires. It is best to use both types of alarms in the home.
· A smoke alarm should be on the ceiling or high on a wall. Keep smoke alarms away from the kitchen -- at least 10 feet from the stove -- to reduce false alarms.
· People who are hard-of-hearing or deaf can use special alarms. These alarms have strobe lights and bed shakers.
· Replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old.

(Written by Capt. Shawn Mosshammer, Tinker Fire and Emergency Services)