How to Prevent House Fires and Save Your Life

Ed Zimmerman was built like a fire hydrant. He was short, about 5′ 8 or 9 and stocky with broad shoulders, not much of a neck, and the legs of star running back, which he was when he was in school. Ed was my next-door neighbor and friend when I lived in a small rural community about 30 minutes outside of St. Louis, Missouri. His father was a general contractor and Ed worked for him replacing roofs and installing guttering. Ed was also a trained paramedic and a volunteer fireman. His uncle was the assistant fire chief of the local fire protection district. Ed’s phone was directly hooked to the alarm system at the fire station and it would ring distinctively whenever there was an alarm. Sometimes I would go along with him on some of the calls. Being small but strong, Ed was usually the one who was called upon to crawl into a burning building and he didn’t seem hesitant to do so. He had fallen through fire-weakened floors a few times and had the scars to prove it.

A man put a large pan of shortening on the stove, turned up the open flame and then left to run an errand. Now, shortening will ignite into flame at about 671 degrees and it didn’t take long before the man’s kitchen and then his house was fully engulfed in flames. Another time a construction worker came home from work and wanted to get his work clothes clean. He filled the washer in the basement with gasoline and set the timer. A spark from the motor switch ignited the fumes and within a few minutes his house was gone. Luckily he escaped with his life. And then there was the group of youngsters having a party on their front lawn. Beer flowed and loud music blared from a set of speakers strategically placed in the yard. An extension cord supplied the power. It ran through the grass and into a house that was fully engulfed in flames. Why ruin the party waiting for the fire department? All true stories.

October is National Fire Protection Month and although nothing can protect us from sometimes-stupid behavior, there are some ways to be prepared and quite possibly save your life. A recent study conducted by Underwriter’s Laboratories has shown that fires in today’s homes smolder longer and then burn faster than when smoke detectors were introduced years ago. These more aggressive fires have reduced the average time it takes to escape from 17 minutes in the 1970’s to as little as three minutes under certain conditions today.

There are two main types of technologies used in smoke alarms to detect smoke:

Ionization alarms respond faster to flaming fires such as those involving paper and flammable liquids. Battery models of these types of smoke detectors can be bought for under $10.

Photoelectric alarms work better with smoldering fires such as those ignited by cigarettes in sofas and bedding material. They can be purchased for about $20.

Dual sensor alarms, which use both technologies, can be purchased for about $30.

Since there is no way to predict what type of fire might start in your home, it is better to have both types in place. Smoke detectors should be installed in every level of your house according to manufacturer’s specifications and checked every year. The batteries should also be changed yearly. Never disconnect a smoke alarm because of “nuisance” alarms such as cooking smoke or showers. Either use the instant shut-off feature or wave a newspaper at it to turn it off. And it’s always good to have an evacuation plan in case the unthinkable happens.