Here at Judd Fire Protection, our ultimate goal is to prevent as many people as possible from experiencing fires in the first place. Few things can be more devastating than a house fire. Thankfully, there are things we can do to prevent them. From home fire sprinklers, to extinguishers, to smoke detectors, you can put plenty of barriers in place to reduce your risk of a house fire. But in order to put an end to them, we need to know where house fires start.
To put an end to house fires, we need to know where they start.
The Kitchen
Let’s start with the biggest culprit: the kitchen. Simply put, the overwhelming majority of house fires start in the kitchen. This is why people tend to make so much fuss about fire safety while cooking. If you don’t do so already, you certainly should.
Every time you cook over an open flame, you are working with a controlled fire. Every time you bake something in the oven, the appliance is reaching a potentially dangerous level of heat. You should use an abundance of caution in the kitchen, and ALWAYS have a working fire extinguisher on hand.
Your Living Room
Up next, let’s take a look at the living room. You might not think of the living room as a place where house fires are likely to start. The truth is that it depends a whole lot on how your family uses this part of your home.
As you might have guessed, the biggest threat to fire safety in your living room is typically the fireplace. When properly attended to, a fireplace is hardly a fire threat to speak of. But you’ll need to follow these rules:
- Only burn seasoned firewood
- Have your chimney inspected and swept once annually
- Never leave a fireplace unattended
- Watch out for any sparks that pop out
Even if you’re a responsible fireplace user, there are other threats to fire safety in the living room you should be aware of. Watch out for candles, for instance, if they’re something you frequently use.
The Laundry Room
Fire safety should be at the forefront of nearly everything you do in your home—including your laundry. Generally, washing machines do not pose much of a fire hazard. But dryers do. It has been estimated that as many as 2,900 fires every year can be attributed to domestic clothes dryers.
No one should become a victim of a dryer lint fire. If you do your due diligence, you won’t have to. Simply clean out the lint trap after every use, and have the duct cleaned out once per year for good measure.
If you want to reduce your risk of a fire in the laundry room to almost zero, consider hang drying your clothes. If you have the space to do so, this is a great option. It comes with unexpected benefits, such as a reduced environmental impact and clothes that last longer.
Commercial and Residential Fire Prevention from Judd Fire Protection
If you want to ensure your home and business are safe throughout the year, trust Judd Fire Protection, LLC. We have over two decades of experience in designing, installing, inspecting, and repairing residential and commercial fire protection systems. We serve clients throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia. If you are interested in finding out more about our services and protecting your home and business, give us a call at 410-871-3480 or contact us online. For more fire safety tips, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.