BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD)– The Bloomington Fire Department has released tips for the holiday season to prevent fires.
A Bloomington fire news release states that they begin to see higher incidents of home fires during the upcoming holiday season. The biggest cause of house fires is unattended cooking.
With Daylight Saving Time being a pseudo-holiday for fire safety, Bloomington fire has released the following tips:
- We encourage everyone to inspect or purchase a fire extinguisher for the kitchen.
- We recommend replacing smoke detectors that are more than five years old with new ten-year sealed battery detectors. If detectors are currently hard-wired, replace them with hard-wired interconnected detectors with a 10-year battery backup. To avoid accidental activation, replace all hard-wired detectors at once.
- We advise replacing carbon monoxide that is more than five years old with a new 10-year sealed battery carbon monoxide detector.
- We suggest you place smoke detectors inside each bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the home, including the basement. On levels without bedrooms, install detectors in the living room (den or family room), near the stairway to the upper level, or in both locations.
- We urge smoke detectors be installed at least 10 feet from cooking appliances to decrease false alarms.
- We encourage having a fire extinguisher in the kitchen in an easily accessible location.
Small fires can still take people six months to a year to return to their homes. Three out of five home deaths were caused by fires in buildings with no smoke detectors.
