Is Your Home Safe from Fire Hazards?

Information by State  Print version

Each year in the US, about 12,000 children 14 years of age and under are injured in residential fires. Preschool children die in fires at twice the national rate.

It is estimated that a home fire occurs every 66 seconds nationally. Ninety percent of fire deaths involving children occur in homes without working smoke alarms. An estimated 92 percent of American homes contain smoke alarms, but about 1/3 of them don’t work or are missing charged batteries.

To protect your family, you should:

• Have a smoke alarm near, or inside bedrooms and on every floor or level of your home. Test the alarms once a month, and change the batteries once a year. New 10-year detectors, which use lithium batteries, cost about $5 to $30 and can be found at most hardware and discount stores.
• Practice different ways to get out of the house during a fire, and agree on a safe place to meet outside.
• Do not smoke inside your home.
• Make sure everyone in your family knows the STOP, DROP, and ROLL procedure in case their clothes catch on fire.
• Keep matches and lighters out of reach from children.