National Safety Month and Fire Safety
As a work from home mom, I try my best to keep on top of all home-related concerns. The kitchen and bathrooms are (almost) always clean, the laundry is washed if not put away, and I enjoy tweaking the decorating around the house to freshen the look and make our home comfortable for my family.
What I’m not good about staying on top of, however, is home safety.
That seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? I’m more in tune with the need for new valances in the sunroom than with safety concerns in my home.
June was National Safety Month and as a Kidde Ambassador, I took this opportunity to assess the fire safety needs in my home. Our house was built about fifteen years ago before legislation such as mandatory sprinkler systems came into being in my home state of Maryland. There are also very few smoke alarms in my house, which is a fairly large 4,000+ square feet.
A quick look around my house showed me that I only have smoke alarms in the following locations:
Basement level (fully finished with one bedroom): one smoke alarm at the bottom of the stairs outside of the furnace room.
First floor: one smoke alarm in the hallway between the kitchen and the foyer.
Second floor: one smoke alarm at the top of the stairs and in each of the four bedrooms.
I also took a look at where we have fire extinguishers and found that our only fire extinguisher in the home is in the kitchen pantry.
So what do you think? How did we do?
My next step is going to be to head over to Kidde’s Home Safety page to determine what my home needs to meet fire safety standards. Please watch for my next post where I’ll show you the results!
Disclosure: This post is part of a year-long sponsored ambassador campaign. All opinions are my own. Follow Kidde on social media at facebook.com/kidde, on Twitter @KiddeSafety, and @kiddefiresafety on Instagram.
You just reminded me that I don’t have ANY fire extinguishers in my house. I think we will get 3. One for the kitchen, one for the garage, and one for the upstairs bedrooms. I don’t like the idea of needing an extinguisher but being blocked from one by a wall of fire, so I think having multiple around our home would solve that problem.
I am definitely guilty of neglecting fire safety in our home, which is silly because my dad services fire extinguishers for a living. He would be shaking his head at me. This post is a great reminder that fire preparedness is extremely important, even if we hardly ever think about it. I will definitely start practicing better fire safety. Thank you for posting!
I am so thank full that you wrote this post.
People usually think of lots of safety aspects, but usually forget about the basic needs.
YES!! One of these essential aspects is installing a fire alarm system and having fire extinguishers at home. Both items are really essential.
I am sure many will get a good guidance of installing fire alarms and buying a fire extinguisher, today.
Very Helpful Post!!
I need to check to make sure I have enough smoke detectors in my house. As annoying as it can be for a false fire alarm to go off while cooking, it’s still imperative to have smoke detectors in important locations, especially bedrooms. I’d definitely recommend having more than one fire extinguisher, especially for a house as big as yours, though having one in the kitchen is probably the best option if you only have one. Thanks for the article.
I think that the only fire extinguisher we have is very old and in the basement. After looking at how you’ve changed your ways, gives me hope on me changing mine! I think that making my home safer is a good project for the weekend. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks, I should buy a fire extinguisher. After reading posts about fire protection, I started to think how important they are.