Fire Damage Repair Expert Guide – Planning for a Home Fire

As far as destructive disasters go there are few things as staggering as a fire that ruins your home and possessions. A fire in your house is a distressing and an emotionally draining event, whether it destroys everything or not. However, there are some precautions you can implement to decrease the likelihood of a fire from occurring in your residence. The fire damage repair team at Paul Davis knows the serious condition of house fires and that’s why it’s crucial to know how to plan and prepare your house and what to do when a fire occurs.

Create and Implement an Emergency Plan for Your Home

Safety has to be the number one priority when getting ready for a house fire, and smoke alarms and fire extinguishers should be placed throughout the home. Smoke alarms are crucial because a fire could come out of the blue and you need to take action as quickly as possible. Something else to think about with smoke alarms is obtaining ones that can catch smoke caused by electrical fires. Lastly, any children living in the house need to be educated on what a smoke alarm sounds like when it goes off and what to do when it occurs.

Implement emergency plans for fire routes and make sure everybody knows about them. Always have two exits out of each room in the home. Also, you’ll want to have a planned meeting spot outside of the home so that you know everybody gets out safely.

Something else you should do is protect your important items such as photographs, birth certificates and passports. You could make digital replicas and place them into a cloud drive as a backup, and you can get a fire safe box to keep the hard copies secure as well. Lastly, make a record of all your personal possessions for insurance reasons in the event they’re burned up by the flames.

Things to Think about to Decrease Home Fire Risk

While some fires aren’t preventable, there are some things you can do to decrease the odds of a fire from occurring in your residence:

  • Cooking: It’s crucial to be attentive in the kitchen and to not ignore cooking food alone. Always have somebody there to watch everything going on.
  • Appliances and Electrical: Worn down cords and damaged plugs could easily initiate a house fire, so be sure to examine your appliances routinely for any problems. Also, check up on the switches for your lights because if they’re hot, they need to be changed.
  • Portable Heaters: It’s essential to relocate any combustible objects at least three feet away from a space heater. {Also,} you’ll want your heater to have a control mechanism too and other safety features such as turning off if it falls over.
  • Fireplaces: Creosote is highly flammable and it develops in your fireplace and chimney after it’s been used, so always get your fireplace cleaned and maintained regularly. Having a big, strong screen is also vital to prevent sparks from flying into the room and rolling logs.
  • Children: Keep any matches or lighters in a location that is out of sight and out of reach from children to prevent their inquisitive nature from lighting a fire. Educate your children that fire is not something to play with as well.
  • Smoking: Indoor smoking makes your home susceptible to house fires, so the best method to prevent a disaster is to smoke outside. When you do smoke inside, make sure you have suitable ashtrays to prevent a cigar or cigarette from falling onto the ground. Yet, if somebody in the house is on oxygen, do not smoke inside as oxygen is highly combustible.

Reach Out to the Fire Damage Restoration Contractors at Paul Davis

Reach out to the skillful fire damage restoration team from Paul Davis at once if your home has had a fire. Our expert team can re-mediate any fire damage and have your house back in a livable condition. For a Paul Davis franchise near you, get in touch with us at 888-473-7669.