October is Fire Prevention Month. Why? Because when the cold weather hits and
people begin turning on the heat, home fires become rampant.
While our Disaster Action Team members in each community are
ready to help those families who experience this tragedy, the best thing would
be to avoid the fire all together. How can we do that? Make sure your friends
and family know to get their fire places checked and cleaned out, have their
heating units checked such as pilot lights and wiring, and be sure that if any
space heaters or other non-traditional heating units are functioning, those
using them know how to use them properly.
Another part of prevention is preventing deaths and injuries
that happen in the event of a house fire. Tennessee has one of the highest rates of home fire deaths, and the
American Red Cross has established a 5 year goal of decreasing our national
average by 25 percent. To that end, we are
partnering with local fire departments and other partners this month to install
smoke alarms in high-risk fire areas. Even if you have a smoke alarm with new batteries, after 10 years, a
smoke alarm no longer is reliable to detect that smoke.
Find out how old your smoke alarms are in
your own home and keep your family safe.
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