Home Fire Safety

New state regulations for smoke and CO detectors  - Find out what the new state requirements are when selling a one- or two-family home. The new regulations become effective as of April 5, 2010, and vary based on the age of the house.

Safety tips:

• Smoke alarms save lives. Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. When there is a fire, smoke spreads fast and you need smoke alarms to give you time to get out.

• Replace batteries in all smoke alarms when we Spring ahead and when we Fall back. If an alarm “chirps”, warning the battery is low, replace the battery right away.

• Replace all smoke alarms, including alarms that use 10-year batteries and hard-wired alarms, when they are 10 years old or sooner if they do not respond properly.

• Pull together everyone in your household and make a fire escape plan. Walk through your home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes.  Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.

• Choose an outside meeting place (i.e. neighbor's house, a light post, mailbox, or stop sign) a safe distance in front of your home where everyone can meet after they've escaped. Make sure to mark the location of the meeting place on your escape plan.

• Use a portable fire extinguisher when the fire is confined to a small area, such as a wastebasket, and is not growing; everyone has exited the home; the fire department has been called or is being called; and the room is not filled with smoke.

• For the home, select a multi-purpose ABC type 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.

Sub pages:

• Kids Page