Spring forward to fire safety in your home

As we Spring our clocks forward one hour this weekend, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) reminds everyone to take this time to check the overall safety around their homes. This includes testing and replacing batteries in smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. Making sure they are properly installed and in good working order saves lives during a fire emergency, when every second counts.

Often taken for granted, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors are safety devices that play a vital role in significantly increasing the chances of survival by alerting us, allowing for a timely evacuation during a house fire or CO exposure. In a fire, smoke spreads farther and faster than fire, resulting in more people dying from smoke inhalation than from burns. More than half of all fire-related fatalities occur in homes without a working smoke alarm. The main cause of smoke alarm failure during a fire is due to a missing, depleted, disconnected, or improperly installed battery. According to the National Fire Protection Association, each year, there are over 330,000 home fires that cause nearly 3,000 deaths, more than 10,000 injuries and over $10 billion in direct property damage. Additionally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning, with more than 100,000 visiting the emergency room for treatment, and over 14,000 being hospitalized due to CO exposure every year.

Spring forward to fire safety when changing your clocks in your home this weekend with these safety tips:

• Smoke alarms alert you in the event of fire with as little as 2 minutes to escape safely: Be sure to place smoke alarms in every bedroom/sleeping area, in a hallway outside of sleeping areas, and on each level of the home. Keep smoke alarms away from the kitchen and bathrooms to reduce nuisance or false alarms. Be sure to follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer
• Make sure your smoke alarms and (CO) detectors are in working order: Test all smoke alarms and CO detectors at least once a month. Listen for beeps or chirps. Check and replace their batteries twice a year when you change your clocks (fall backward, spring forward)
• Do your smoke alarms and (CO) detectors need to be replaced? For the best protection, be sure to replace any smoke alarms in your home that are older than 10 years and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors older than 5 years.
• Change all the batteries in the home: Change all the batteries in all electronics around the home such as clocks, thermostats, irrigation, outdoor lighting, phone accessories and flashlights
• Check inside the home and exterior storage areas for hazardous materials: Store flammable products properly and away from children. Designate a cool, dark indoor or outside storage area and properly discard any products or materials that are outdated, no longer in use, or in poor condition
• Practicing your fire escape plan is vital when every second counts: Review your family fire escape plan with everyone in your household. It’s important to know at least two ways out of every room, making sure all the doors and windows are clear and open easily. Practice your escape plan twice a year to make sure that everyone will know what to do in case of an emergency
• Get or replace your fire extinguisher: Always keep an ABC-rated home fire extinguisher nearby in case of an emergency, and make sure every member of your household knows how to use it properly
• Review your family's emergency preparedness kit: Check to see what needs to be replaced or included in your home disaster supply kit

For more information, please contact MDFR’s Media and Public Relations Bureau at 305-204-2526.