ADT Home Security - Top fire tips for the home

Prevention is the best form of defence.

Over half of all home fires are caused by accidents in the kitchen*.  By following a few simple rules you can cook safely at home:

• Don’t leave hot fats or oils unattended
• Ensure children don’t have access to cookers, matches or are left alone with access to open fires
• Get a fire blanket and or fire extinguisher and know how to use them
• Make sure saucepan handles don’t stick out, causing pans to be knocked off the surface.
• Make sure you don’t exceed the recommended cooking times of high starch and or sugar content foods when using your microwave; these can burst into flames

Take care with electrics – over 7,000 fires a year are caused by faulty electrics:

• Never plug an extension cable into another extension cable
• Don’t overload plug sockets
• When replacing fuses, ensure the correct rating is used
• Don’t run cables under carpets; they can get damaged, short, spark and set fire to the carpet
• Ensure you don’t exceed the recommended wattage when replacing light bubs; hHigher wattage bulbs may give off more heat than sustainable by the lamp shade, causing char, smoulder and open flames
• Unplug appliances when not in use.

Make sure your smoke detectors are working correctly.  It’s a sad fact but 1 in 3 smoke alarms fail to work and warn residents of a fire; mainly due to missing or non working batteries*.  Other simple fire safety tips include: 

• Don’t place wet washing on heaters or in front of fires
• Have a spark proof guard in front of all open fires
• Don’t leave candles unattended
• Never store more chemicals and cleaning fluids than you need
• Store paints and thinners in a metal container; never store flammable materials under a stairway
• Close all internal doors to limit fires from spreading, particularly at night

(* Source: http://www.firekills.gov.uk/ ).

Planning an escape

• Do you know what you should do if there's a fire?
• Does everyone who lives in your home know?

In the event of a fire, there’s usually no time to stop and think of the best thing to do. Half a minute after the smoke alarm goes off, an entire floor of your house could be filled with dense smoke.

Make an escape plan

When you make an escape plan, you should involve everyone who lives in your home, including children, older people and lodgers.   For more information on making an escape plan (opens a new window) click here.

Escape planning information is Crown copyright from www.directr.gov.uk.

For those clients who want professional security guidance including fire prevention or have specific requirements such as a pet friendly system or protection for a conservatory, ADT provide a free security survey and risk assessment of their home.

Once complete, the ADT security expert will then, together with the client be able to design a system that suits their needs.

To book your free security survey and risk assessment complete our online form now or call the number above.

To ensure client safety and absolute integrity, all our security experts and advisors are vetted to the highest standards as defined by National Security Inspectorate (NSI).