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Fire Safety in your Home

Fire Kills - You Can Prevent It

Practical advice about fire safety in your home, including free leaflets and booklets to download.

A fire doesn't have to kill you to take your life.

12 Top Fire Safety Tips

How to make your house a safe home:

  • Fit smoke alarms on each level in your home. Keep them free from dust and test them once a week. Consider buying a 10-year alarm; otherwise change the batteries in your alarm every year

  • Make a fire action plan so that everyone in your home knows how to escape if there is a fire

  • Keep the exits form your home clear so that people can escape if there is a fire. Make sure that everyone in your home can easily find keys for doors and windows

  • Take extra care in the kitchen - accidents while cooking account for over half of fires in homes. Never leave young children alone in the kitchen

  • Take extra care when cooking with hot oil. Consider buying a deep-fat fryer which is controlled by a thermostat (if you do not already have one)

  • Never leave lit candles in rooms that nobody is in or in rooms where children are on their own. Make sure candles are in secure holders on a surface that does not burn and are away from any materials that could burn

  • Make sure cigarettes are stubbed out properly, disposed of carefully and never smoke in bed

  • Get into the habit of closing doors at night. If you want to keep a child's bedroom door open, close the doors to the lounge and kitchen, it may well help save their life if there is a fire

  • Do not overload electrical sockets. Remember one plug for one socket

  • Keep matches and lighters where children cannot see or reach them

  • Take special care when you are tired or when you have been drinking

  • Do not leave the TV or other electrical appliances on standby as this could cause a fire. Always switch it off and unplug when not in use