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Do you know what to do in case of a house fire?

Did you know that if a fire starts in your home, you may have just two minutes to escape?

The most effective way to protect yourself and your home from fire is to identify and remove fire hazards. Sixty percent of house fire deaths occur in homes with no working smoke alarms. During a home fire, working smoke alarms and a fire-escape plan that has been practiced regularly can save lives.

The American Red Cross urges everyone to take responsibility for fire safety in their home, their business and their schools. Fire experts agree that 62 percent of Americans mistakenly believe they have at least 5 minutes or longer to escape a burning home. A full 18 percent think they have 10 minutes or longer to escape. Surveys done on behalf of the Red Cross indicate that in actuality the escape time from a home fire is less than two minutes.

The surveys also indicated that 69 percent of parents believe their children would know what to do or how to escape with little help. However, 52 percent of the parents surveyed have not talked to their families about fire safety; 70 percent have not identified a safe place for their family members to meet outside the home; and 82 percent have not practiced a home fire drill. You can learn more at www.redcross.org.

Preparing, preventing a home fire

Keep items that can catch on fire at least 3 feet away from anything that gets hot, such as space heaters.

Never smoke in bed.

Talk to your children regularly about the dangers of fire, matches and lighters, and keep them out of reach.

Put out candles and turn portable heaters off when you leave the room or go to sleep.

Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas.

Teach your children what smoke alarms sound like and what to do when they hear one.

Test smoke alarms once a month. If they’re not working, change the batteries.

Smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years. Never disable smoke or carbon monoxide alarms. Carbon-monoxide alarms are not substitutes for smoke alarms. Know the difference between the sound of smoke alarms and carbon-monoxide alarms.

Ensure that all household members know two ways to escape from every room of your home.

Make sure everyone knows where to meet outside in case of fire.

Practice escaping from your home at least twice a year and at different times of the day. Practice waking up to smoke alarms, low crawling and meeting outside. Make sure everyone knows how to call 911.

Teach household members to stop, drop and roll if their clothes should catch fire.

The Red Cross responds to disasters, large and small, nearly 70,000 times each year across the United States – nearly one every eight minutes. Most of those disasters are home fires. We are always looking for new volunteers to help carry out our mission of preventing and alleviating human suffering in the face of emergencies.

We offer training for new and experienced volunteers online, as well as weekend training academies around the state. Our next training academy will be in Alamosa, Nov. 7-9. The academy is free, and we invite you to visit www.redcross.org/colorado to learn more about these classes and about volunteering in your community.

To learn more and to register for courses, email Vilate Thacker – volunteer program coordinator – at vilate.thacker@redcross.org or call (719) 588-6931.

Colleen Johnson is executive director of the Southwest Colorado chapter of the American Red Cross. Reach her at 259-6642.



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