How You Can Celebrate Fire Prevention Week 

October is Fire Prevention Month and we celebrate Fire Prevention week October 3-9th, 2021 in Massachusetts. During this month, local fire departments and emergency personnel provide education to their communities. They also encourage parents, teachers, and loved ones to practice fire prevention and whole home safety.

This year’s theme, Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety, is meant to support the mission of promoting fire safety awareness. The campaign works to educate everyone about simple but important actions they can take to stay safe. This year, the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) is focusing on the sounds of fire alarms and smoke detectors. 

Fire Safety Stats 

Fire Prevention week is the perfect time to educate and talk with your whole family about fire safety. 

Did you know that: 

• 3 of every 5 home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no working smoke alarms
• Less than 50% of homeowners have an escape plan
• Carbon monoxide (CO) is the #1 cause of accidental poisoning in the US (Source: NFPA) 

How You Can Take Action 

Every year the NFPA asks families to review their fire safety plan. This includes mapping out where each family member should try to flee a fire and how to do so. Mapping out exits, whether they are stairwells and doors, or windows and fire escapes can save precious time during a fire. 

It’s also important, when planning with your family, about staying low to the floor to avoid the smoke and having a meeting point outside where family members can gather. 

In accordance with this year’s theme, talk about the sounds of fire safety. Talk to your children about what sounds a smoke detector makes such as a buzzing or chirping sound. You will want your children to recognize the sound and react quickly. 

The NFPA suggests knowing the difference between a dying smoke detector battery and one that is alerting to a fire or smoke. 

“A continuous set of three loud beeps—beep, beep, beep—means smoke or fire. Get out, call 9-1-1, and stay out. A single chirp every 30 or 60 seconds means the battery is low and must be changed.”

Celebrate Fire Prevention Week with a practice drill, listening to the smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector as well as mapping out all the exits to your home. Additionally, they have created this graphic to help families understand where smoke alarms, CO alarms, and smoke alarms should be in every home. Make sure you regularly check the batteries and talk about fire safety in your home. 

Talk to the experts at Instant Alarm to set up your home security and fire safety measures that can be monitored 24/7 at our central monitoring station.