Carrara Companies Cleaning & Restoration Services Blog

Fire Prevention Tips for Christmas

According to the United Sates Fire Administration (USFA), each year fires occurring during the holiday season injure 2,600 individuals and cause over $930 million in damage. There are simple life-saving steps you can take to ensure a safe and happy holiday. By following these precautionary tips, individuals can greatly reduce their chances of becoming a holiday fire casualty:

Tree Selection & Care

• Special fire safety precautions need to be taken when keeping a live tree in the house. A burning tree can rapidly fill a room with fire and deadly gases. Click here for a brief video provided by the USFA.
• Selecting a Tree for the Holiday: Needles should be green and hard to pull back from the branches, and should not break if the tree has been freshly cut. The trunk should be sticky to the touch. Old trees can be identified by bouncing the tree trunk on the ground. If many needles fall off, the tree has been cut too long, has probably dried out, and is a fire hazard.
• Caring for Your Tree: Do not put your live tree up too early or leave it up for longer than two weeks. Keep the tree stand filled with water at all times. Do not place your tree close to a heat source, including a fireplace or heat vent. Be careful not to drop or flick cigarette ashes near a tree.
• Disposing of Your Tree: Never put tree branches or needles in a fireplace or wood burning stove. When the tree becomes dry, discard it promptly. The best way to dispose of your tree is by taking it to a recycling center or having it hauled away by a community pick-up service.
• Never Put Lit Candles on a Tree: Do not go near a holiday tree with an open flame candles, lighters or matches.

Holiday Lighting

• Maintain Your Holiday Lights: Inspect holiday lights each year for frayed wires, bare spots, gaps in the insulation, broken or cracked sockets, and excessive kinking or wear before putting them up. Use only lighting listed by an approved testing laboratory.
• Do Not Overload Electrical Outlets: Do not link more than three light strands, unless the directions indicate it is safe. Connect strings of lights to an extension cord before plugging the cord into the outlet. Make sure to periodically check the wires-- they should not be warm to the touch.

Holiday Decorating

• Use Only Nonflammable Decorations: All decorations should be nonflammable or flame retardant and placed away from heat vents.
• Never Put Wrapping Paper in a Fireplace: It can throw off dangerous sparks and produce a chemical buildup in the home that could cause an explosion.
• Artificial Holiday Trees: If you are using a metallic or artificial tree, make sure it is flame retardant.

Fire Prevention Tips for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and if you are the host of a thanksgiving party then you must know you are bound to face a shortage of time when it comes to dinner preparation. This may force you to hasten cooking times, which can be dangerous.   

Due to the improper storing, cooking, and serving of turkey, sometimes the growth of harmful bacteria such as salmonella, which can cause food borne illness, may occur. Moreover, the chances of injuries and burns are increased.  According to The United States Fire Administration (USFA) cooking is the leading cause of residential structural fires on Thanksgiving.  

To assist in your cooking and serving planning, below are safety tips to remember when preparing your annual feast.

• Be cautious about hygiene and cleanliness while cooking, washing and storing eatables. Make sure the preparation area is clean and you have used a disinfectant before and after cooking.
• While cooking always check lighting and ensure there is ample of light in the cooking area so as to prevent you from cutting yourself or slip away with a sharp knife.
• Always remember to use hot hands or over mitts in kitchen whenever you are going to handle cooked in the oven or on top of the stove. This will prevent you from burning.
• Always keep the food which requires cold storage away from the food that need to be stored in hot to prevent any kind of bacterial growth in your thanksgiving food.
• Always put on a pair of slippers or shoes while cooking thanksgiving food so as to prevent yourself from any kind of injury resulting from dropping of something hot/sharp on your feet.
• While cooking food on the stove, always ensure the handles of the pans are turn off the side. This will prevent any kind of injury to you or to your family resulting from dropping of the hot pans.
• Do not leave stove unattended and be sure to have working smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in the kitchen area.

Kitchen Fire Safety 101

Cooking fires are the leading cause of home fires in the United States, causing more than 480 deaths per year and causing more than 900 million in property damage. Grease fires are the main culprits of home fires and if left alone your entire kitchen could go up in a matter of minutes.

In a case of an emergency, would you know how to handle a grease fire?

Here are the do's and don'ts

Do:

• Do use a dry chemical extinguisher (class ABC fires) which is design to put out a grease fire in seconds
• Do keep fire extinguisher readily accessible
• Do focus on putting the fire out at the base of the fire
• Do carefully put baking soda on the flames
• Do place a lid on the pan and turn off the heat
• Do leave the lid on, trying to remove the lid while still hot could restart the fire. 

Don't

• Don't leave food cooking on an unattended stove
• Don't disable a smoke alarm while cooking
• Don't use water to put out the flames, water could cause the flames to double in size instantly
• Don't throw on a wet towel.  This could cause grease to splatter causing more wide spread flames
• Don't use a water base extinguisher this will only intensify the flames

Other key points:

• Trying to remove the pan from the heat could result in bodily harm
• Studies show that 42 percent of people who have died in cooking fires were asleep.
• Remember, if the fire has already spread beyond the cooking pan, leave immediately and call 911 from a neighbor's house.

National Fire Prevention Week, October 4 – 10 2009

The first week of October is not only the beginning of the Halloween season, it is also the National Fire Protection Agency's (NFPA) awareness week for fire prevention. Their campaign, Stay Fire Smart! Don't Get Burned, focuses on burn awareness and prevention, as well as keeping homes safe from the leading causes of home fires. In support of this event, below are some safety tips in helping you prevent a fire.

Family Disaster Plan
Every family should have a plan designed to include events, such as fire, flood, or home intrusion. For fire, make sure you have a planned escape route known to all family members. You also may want to keep a portable ladder in any room above the first floor.

Fire Extinguishers
Keep one fire extinguisher on every floor in the home, and another in any room with additional fire hazards such as the kitchen, garage, or laundry room. Make sure it is capable of fighting all three classifications of fire, and inspect them semi-annually to ensure they are still good.

Smoke Alarms
Know the different types of smoke alarms, and how they detect a fire. The best way to remember to change or test the batteries, is to associate it with the seasons. When it's time to change the clocks, change the batteries.

Air Ducts, Chimneys, Dryers, & Space Heaters
Get your chimneys swept, and air ducts cleaned annually. This will prevent the buildup of dust/soot, which may act as additional fuel for a fire. Remove the lint from the clothes dryer after every cycle, and clean the inside of the hose regularly. Practice good safety methods when using a space heater, and remember never leave one unattended.

Housekeeping
Never store any flammable materials, whether paper goods or chemicals, near a potential fire hazard. Maintain a proper clearance space around registers, ducts, furnaces, water tanks, etc.

- Video provided by NFPA, and used in cooperation with the promotion of National Fire Prevention Week. Feel free to visit their website at: http://www.firepreventionweek.org/.

Mobile Heating & the Safety of Space Heaters

As the weather gets cooler, and eventually leads into the winter months people tend to look for cheaper ways to heat their homes, rather than keeping the furnace going full blast. Coincidentally, according to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) this also happens to be the same time as a larger portion of home fires due to negligent safety precautions. Whether you have a portable space heater, or are thinking of purchasing one, keep several key thoughts in mind.

• Never purchase a space heater, which is not approved by Underwriters Laboratories. Meaning, ensure it has the UL label attached, which means this product has been tested for safety.
• Remember space heaters are used for supplemental heating for a room. Do not use them for anything else, such as cooking, cloths drying, etc.
• Never leave a space heater unattended, especially if there are children in the home. If you are leaving the room, or going to bed - turn it off.
• Never place the heater on any surface, which is not flat and/or hard. Avoid putting them on carpets and rugs, which are flammable.

Liquid Fuel Heaters

• If using a heater fueled by kerosene, natural gas, or propane make sure, you are using them in a ventilated area, i.e. not in the home. They require oxygen to burn, and in and enclosed space, the oxygen will deplete fast leaving it hard to breathe.
• Install a carbon monoxide alarm in the same area as the heater. This will allow you to monitor the levels of carbon monoxide (CO₂).
• Never use anything except the correct fuel type. Meaning if using a kerosene heater, do not switch the fuel to something like gasoline. Also, make sure the heater is not hot and is sufficiently cool. Pouring fuel into a hot space heater is a recipe for disaster.
• Get the heater professionally inspected annually for safe operations. If the heater is not venting properly, you could run into major health risks.

Electric Space Heaters

• Visually inspect the wires, making sure they are not damaged or frayed. Always plug them directly into an outlet. If you need an extension cord, make sure you use a heavy-duty 14-gauge cord or larger. Avoid placing in a high-traffic area, where one could trip over the wire.
• Although most new models come with a tip-switch, make sure, if the heater falls over, it automatically shuts off. One equipped with a motion sensor so it shuts off when something gets too close (children, pets, etc.) is also ideal. Some also have an auto-shutoff feature, where it will turn itself off if too hot.
• Make sure the heating coils are protected from anything, which may be exposed to them. This will prevent inadvertent burning, and objects from igniting.

Eliminate Fire Damage Restoration by Cooking Outdoors Safely

Cookouts are a summer time favorite among Americans and one of the most popular ways to cook food! During the many cookout festivities people forget about how dangerous a grill can be if precautions are not taken.  Approximately 7,900 house fires occur each year due to a grilling accident, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fire damage restoration. We would like you to enjoy your summer with multiple cookouts, please remember these safety tips:

• Grilling is for outdoors!! Keep your propane and charcoal BBQ grills outside.
• Keep your grill well away from the home, deck railings, and out from under the eaves and overhanging tree branches.
• Keep children and pets away from the grill area.
• Never leave the grill unattended while you are cooking.
• Keep your grill clean from excess buildup grease and fat in the trays.

For charcoal grills:

• Never mix charcoal lighter fluid with any other flammable liquids.
• When finished grilling let the coals completely cool before dispensing into a metal container.

For propane grills:

• Check the hoses each year for leaks by using a soapy water mixture. (bubbles indicate a leak)
• If you smell gas while cooking immediately shut off the burners and get away from the grill and call the fire department. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MOVE THE GRILL.

Preventing A Fire With Proper Air Duct Cleaning

According to the U.S. Fire Administration clothes dryer fires account for approximately 15,600 structural fires, 15 deaths, and over $99 million dollars in damages annually. The leading factor contributing to the clothes dryer fire is "failure to clean".  Surprisingly, the majority of these fires could be prevented with a simple phone call to a professional air duct cleaning company. Annual cleanings of your dryer vent allows proper airflow from the dryer to the outside of the home. If lint and debris are blocking the pathway the hot air has nowhere to escape.

The following are some other helpful tips for your dryer:

• Install metal dryer ducts rather than foil or plastic ducts which may sag and collect lint easier. Also, if a fire were to start in the duct, metal is more likely to contain the fire than the foil or plastic.
• If your clothes are going through two or three cycles to dry you should call a professional air duct cleaning company to come out and rid your dryer vent of the built up lint and debris.
• Clean under and around your dryer to get rid of any lint that has accumulated.
• Clean the lint filter after every dryer cycle.
• If you have clothing with volatile chemicals (gasoline, cooking oils, cleaning agents) wash the clothing more than once to minimize the amount of the chemicals on the clothing and line dry them rather than placing them in the dryer.
• Do not operate the dryer without being home.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to have someone look at your dryer vent call your professional air duct cleaning company.