Maryland

Fire Safety Prevention Starts With Good Planning, Sprinklers

National Fire Safety Prevention Week happens from Oct. 8 to Oct. 14. Organization are pushing out important information to keep people and families safe during a fire situation.

The National Fire Protection Association wants residents and families to use this week to talk about fire safety and how to get out if there is a fire. They said seconds can be live-saving moments when everyone is on the same page when a fire occurs.

• Draw a map of house include all windows and doors. The NFPA provides a grid to help families design their homes.

• Find two ways out of every room

• Make sure doors and windows are not blocked

• Choose an outside meeting place in front of your home

• Push the test button to sound the smoke alarm

• Practice your drill with everyone in the home

• Get outside to your meeting place

Common Voices, an advocate coalition determined to create a fire safe America, offered some tips on how fires start, how quickly they can spread, and when they are mostly likely to occur.

• More than 80 percent of fire deaths happen in the home (about 2,500 people each year)

• NFPA reports fires are actually more common than natural disasters and many times more deadly.

• You only have 3 minutes to escape a home fire. Fire sprinklers can stop a fire in 90 seconds.

• Fires burn fast and kill quickly because of the raw materials now used in modern building construction and furnishings.

• Working smoke alarm cuts chances of dying in a reported fire in half

• Working sprinklers decreases risk of dying in reported fire by almost 80 percent

• Ninety percent of fires are contained by just one sprinkler

• Have a fire extinguisher for immediate use on small fires, know how to sue and maintain it

• People’s activities, like cooking and heating, are the leading cause of house fires

• Preschool children and older adults are at greatest risk form a home fire

• The majority of fatal home fires happen at night when people are sleeping

In Maryland and Washington, D.C., new one- and two-family homes are required to have fire sprinklers installed before a family can move in. Virginia has removed requirements for sprinklers in new townhomes and one- and two-family homes.

For other states’ laws on sprinklers, the NFPA has a state-by-state breakdown.

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