Fireplace Safety
Fireplace Safety measures should always be taken seriously to ensure the protection of your property and human life. The first step to ensure the fireplace safety is to read the literature published by the fire department of your area. Get a thorough knowledge of the dos and don’ts about observing the fire safety precautions.
Here Is A List Of Some ‘Dos’ For Fireplace Safety Measures:
Check carefully if your smoke detector in the room where the fireplace is located is functioning properly. Check its batteries regularly.
Hold fire drills with the members of your family with regular frequency. Fix up a meeting place for all your family members in the event of a fire.
Teach your children to” stop, drop and roll" over back and forth on the floor to put out the fire and cover their faces if their clothes catch fire. Keep doing this until the fire is extinguished.
Keep an alternative fire escape route or an emergency exit from the room where the fireplace is located. It should be either a door or a window.
Keep fire extinguishers in operational condition and learn how to use them in the event of the fire emergency. The children too should be taught to handle the fire safety apparatus. Read and explain the instructions printed on the fire extinguishers to the children and other members of the family.
Know the telephone numbers of the fire department and call them immediately in case the fire breaks out.
Put a strong fire screen or glass doors on the opening of the fireplace to protect against the sparks flying outside it
Get your chimney checked regularly to see if it is free from any blockages and is properly vented. Get it cleaned if needed.
Protect the top of your chimney by using a guard to keep the birds and small animals from entering it. The chimney guard also keeps the sparks emanating from the fire inside the chimney and igniting your roof.
Keep the easily inflammable items such as newspapers, magazines, rugs, holiday decorations and carpets away from the fireplace. Most important of all these is to teach the children to keep away from the fireplace.
There are certain don’ts which should be strictly observed.
Use only enough fuel to keep the fire at the desired
temperature. Avoid "roaring" fires. They can start
chimney fires from soot and creosote deposits in the
flue.
Do not burn the Christmas tree greens. The sparks emanating from them can cause the chimney fires.
Lighting the fire with gasoline or similar inflammable liquids should be done carefully, as they can easily explode.
