FIRE PREVENTION AND SAFETY TIPS
Plan Your Escape!
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Plan at least two
escape routes from every room in your home. Include all of your family in the
planning, as they have to be able to use the routes at any time of the day or
night and in complete darkness. Practice your escape and plan a meeting place
outside.
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If you have a fire, "crawl low below smoke" on hands and knees with your
head down. Call the Fire Department using an outside phone, cell phone or from a
neighbor's home. Never go back into a burning building! Give the Fire Department
any information you have about people still in the house and their location. The
Fire Department can get through your house faster than you can if you tell them
where to begin looking. We have self-contained breathing apparatus and thermal
imaging cameras that let us see and walk in the dark and right through the
densest smoke. We can get your loved ones out faster -- your pets, too -- if you
tell us where to look.
Smoke Detectors
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In Wisconsin,
owners of all existing one and two family homes must install working smoke
detectors according to the following guidelines. At least one detector is needed
on every occupied level of the home. Basements and any finished attic spaces
must also have working smoke detectors. A smoke detector must be installed
within six feet of any sleeping room, at the head of each open stairway and at
the door of any enclosed stairway. We recommend that you also place a working
detector in every bedroom, especially if you sleep with the door closed.
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The best installations are powered both by battery and house current,
with all detectors "interconnected." This interconnection will permit all
detectors to sound if any one senses smoke, which will alert the entire house of
a problem in any area.
| What kind of smoke
detector should I install? Only buy smoke
detectors that are UL (Underwriters Laboratories) listed. Ionization or
photo-electric smoke detectors can be used -- you must read the labels to
determine which is best for your use. Heat detectors can supplement, but do
not replace, smoke detectors! They are not the same and work differently.
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| Maintenance of
Smoke Detectors Always install
smoke detectors according to the manufacturer's directions. Usually the
directions will say some or all of the following:
- Avoid dead air spaces
- For ceiling mounts, four inches from the walls
- Four to twelve inches from the ceiling when mounting on walls
- Mount within three feet of the top of sloped ceilings
- Mount on the bottoms of exposed basement ceiling joists
- Avoid mounting near drafty areas such as windows or doors, in humid or
dusty areas or in kitchens. (Detectors with reduced sensitivity buttons work
well near kitchens and bathrooms.)
- HINT: If you don't want to drill holes in plaster or dry wall, use
double-sided tape or Velcro to attach your detectors.
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| Maintenance of
Smoke Detectors Test detectors
monthly using the "Test" button. If you like, test the detector with smoke from
a blown-out candle or match. Replace the batteries at least every year. If you
replace batteries when you change your clocks for Daylight Savings Time (twice a
year), you can be confident of good battery power. Dust or spider webs can
reduce efficiency or give false alarms, so it is a good practice to vacuum the
detectors at least every year. The upholstery brush attachment works nicely.
Detectors do wear out with age. The National Fire Chiefs Association
recommends replacing detectors after ten years of use. |
Recreational
Fires, Fire
Pits & Outdoor Fireplaces
See
Open Burning Ordinances.
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