Here are two stories from this past week that should provide lessons about paying close attention to anything around the home that can cause a fire, or which can make your escape from a fire more difficult First: On April 20, the Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered the recall of…
In addition to the tragic shopping-mall and nightclub fires I detailed in my last blog entry on April 11, this next story should be a lesson to anyone about thinking of fire safety wherever you are. When at home, you simply must check all possible means of escape on a…
On Sunday, a fire broke out in a three-building shopping mall in the downtown area of Xining City in northwest China. According to media reports there one woman died, while another 12 were rescued and treated in the hospital for injuries mainly caused by smoke inhalation. The local media also…
An article written for the Associated Press this past week covered a topic that every head of a household should know something about: A regulation calling for homes built after January 1, 2011 to install fire sprinklers. This rule in some areas has ignited a fight around the country between…
Here are three items that were in the news last week that provide good lessons for anyone–but especially families–as they examine their home for fire hazards, and also to make sure their fire-escape plans are known by everyone in the family. First, New York city fire officials say a lumbering…
Researchers at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia conducted a study among school-age children to see how effective a smoke detector was in waking them up in the event of fire. Unfortunately, the results were frightening, and a serious wake-up call for parents, firefighters, and to fire-safety educators alike. The study,…
I was watching TV the other day when, believe it or not, a commercial caught my attention. (It seems that everyone else has a digital recording device, so they can skip the commercials. But I was glad that day that I don’t have DVR, or I would not have seen…
On March 20, the Chicago Sun Times reported that two people were injured when a fire started in an apartment at a Chicago Housing Authority senior citizens building. One person suffered minor smoke inhalation, but an elderly man suffered second- and third-degree burns, all because of a cigarette that touched…
While we writers on this blog always try to give useful lessons on everything from preventing second- and third-degree burns, smoke inhalation, and other injuries that come from fires, hot liquids, hot surfaces, and even the sun, we sometimes come across other really good sources of information that we want…
Two deadly fires in the past week are perfect examples of why working smoke detectors are literally life-saving items that every home or apartment should have. First, a fire in a high-rise apartment building in Philadelphia left two firefighters hospitalized, one in serious condition. The fire department responded to the…