The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Melissa Batai. Melissa is a freelance writer who covers topics ranging from personal finance to business to organics to food. She blogs at Mom’s Plans where she shares her family’s journey to healthier living and paying down debt.
Fire. We all hope a fire doesn’t happen in our homes, especially at night when we’re sleeping.
We hope that it doesn’t happen to us, we may live in fear of it, but we do very little to protect ourselves. A surprising number of us don’t even have fire extinguishers in our homes. We don’t know how to put out a grease fire in the kitchen. Sometimes we don’t change the batteries in our smoke alarms, or worse yet, we don’t have smoke alarms. We don’t go over a fire escape plan with our children.
And yet, for all of our lack of precautions, or maybe because of it, household fires are fairly common. According to the National Fire Protection Association, “Between 350,000 and 400,000. . .house fires occur in the United States each year. Households can expect a fire every 15 years on average. . .Your household has a one in four chance of having a fire large enough to be reported to a fire department during an average lifetime” (CBS5AZ).
Are you scared by those statistics, or do you think, “We’re careful. That won’t happen to us.”
Hopefully none of us reading this post will have to experience a house fire, but as the statistics say, some of us will. However, there are important steps you can take to protect your family and your assets:
Install smoke alarms
Don’t kid yourself—you need smoke alarms. According to the National Fire Protection Association, “Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.”
How many smoke alarms do you have in your house?
You should have one on every floor. In addition, you need one inside every bedroom and outside the bedroom, such as in the hallway. The National Fire Protection Association recommends that you change your smoke alarms every 10 years. If you can interconnect your smoke alarms so that when one goes off all the other ones go off, that’s the best protection.
Replace smoke alarm batteries every time there is a time change
Every time we switch to daylight savings time and then back again, in the spring and in the fall, replace your smoke alarm batteries. This is a small price to pay for your safety.
Have a fire extinguisher on every floor of the house
If there’s a small fire in the bedroom upstairs, you don’t want to have to run downstairs to the kitchen to grab the fire extinguisher. Have one on every floor, and make sure there is one in the kitchen.
In addition, know that there are different types of fire extinguishers, A, B, and C, that put out different types of fires. Ideally, get a fire extinguisher that is Type ABC and can put out any small fire you may have in your home. In addition, replace the fire extinguisher every 10 to 12 years, even if it hasn’t been used. If it has been used, it will also have to be replaced.
Have an escape plan and practice it
You and your family members should plan two different ways to get out of the home. You should also practice your escape plan regularly so that if there is a fire, your natural tendency to panic is overcome with your prior preparation.
Make sure younger children know how to open the windows and doors so they can get out. If you have an infant or someone with mobility problems, make sure someone is assigned to help them out of the house. Mark a spot to meet outside. The National Fire Protection Association has a detailed list and sample map to use when making your escape plan.
Keep a flashlight and a phone by your bedside
If there is a fire in your home, you will likely want to call 9-1-1 immediately, and you’ll also need a flashlight to help you navigate the darkness, especially if you’ve already lost electricity.
Take pictures of your assets yearly
Imagine, if everything you owned was gone, would you be able to remember all that was missing and the value of everything? Likely not. Instead, today, go around your house taking pictures of everything that you own. Open closet doors; open dresser drawers; take pictures of all of it. Then, put those pictures somewhere safe so that if there is a fire and you lose most of your belongings, you’ll have documentation of them.
However, doing this once is not enough. You’ll need to repeat the process every 12 to 24 months.
Have home or renters’ insurance
Your home and belongings are too valuable to risk losing. Indeed, losing your home to a house fire and not having home insurance can be financially devastating.
If you’re renting, don’t assume that your landlord’s insurance covers you. The landlord’s insurance covers his loss from the building. You’ll need renter’s insurance to cover the cost of replacing your belongings. When we rented, our renter’s insurance was only $100 a year. That’s less than $10 a month and well worth the cost.
When you take out your home or renter’s insurance, make sure that the insurance is for the replacement value of your items (called replacement cost insurance), not the depreciated value (called actual cash value by the insurance company). The latter type of coverage may be a bit cheaper annually, but if you have a catastrophe like a fire, it could cost you much more.
Say you lose your computer in a fire. If you paid $800 for the computer but you’ve had it for two years, your insurance may only pay you half the amount you paid or less. Consider this being done for all of the items that you lost, and insurance suddenly becomes inadequate. However, if you sign up for replacement cost insurance, you’ll be given an amount to cover the cost of the item in today’s dollars, without depreciation.
Regularly update your insurance
As you stay in your house longer, you tend to accumulate more valuable items and your house also likely appreciates. Make sure every two years or so you reevaluate your insurance. You may find that you need to increase your insurance coverage for the items in your home, and determine if you have enough to cover the replacement value of your home now, after it has appreciated.
Have and use a fireproof safe deposit box
Finally, make sure you have a fireproof safe deposit box somewhere in your home. Use it to store the photos you took of your valuable items as well as any valuable paperwork like birth, marriage, and death certificates, passports, licenses, etc. You may also consider storing heirloom items in here like your grandmother’s wedding ring or older pictures that you wouldn’t want to lose.
No one thinks about the fine details of going through a house fire, but every year hundreds of thousands of people have house fires. In fact, in 2013, there were 369, 500 reported house fires (NFPA). Hopefully, you’ll never experience such a devastating event, but if you do and you’ve taken the steps above, you’ll likely reduce the possible damage.
How about you all? Have you or someone you know ever experienced a house fire? What other tips would you give?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy https://pixabay.com/en/flame-fire-orange-flammable-heat-1013280/
