Fireproofing Your Home Proactive Measures to Minimize Fire Damage Risks

5 min read

The U.S. Fire Administration has reported a five percent increase in residential fires from 2012 to 2021. Their latest estimates also show that 353,500 residential fires occur each year. These numbers are too big and too many for comfort. Fortunately, you can avoid becoming part of this statistic and ensure your family’s safety and well-being.

Fireproofing a house is every homeowner’s responsibility. Get to know the risks, common causes of fires at home, and what you can do to prevent them from happening.

Consider Common Residential Fire Hazards

The first step to fireproofing your home is recognizing the potential fire hazards and doing all means at your disposal to prevent them. A proactive approach to fire prevention will make your home and family safer.

The following are the most common fire hazards in a residence:

• Malfunctioning smoke detectors and alarms
• Improper storage of chemicals and flammable liquids
• Overloading electrical circuits
• Faulty electrical wiring
• Overheated appliances
• Unattended candles and fireplaces
• Unattended cooking, whether on a gas stove or electrical cooking appliances
• Smoking near combustible materials
• Careless throwing of cigarette butts or cigars with embers
• Children playing with fire or flammable materials without adult supervision

These are preventable risks that homeowners should take into consideration wherever possible. Even a small fire can cause extensive damage that takes months to repair. Moreover, it takes a small oversight for a fire to start and subsequently cause property damage.

Fireproofing Tips To Prevent Fire Damage in Your Home

It’s challenging to fireproof any property completely. Sometimes, a catastrophic fire can still occur despite people’s best efforts to avoid it. However, this should never stop us from protecting our home and fireproofing it as best we can.

With this in mind, here are some of the most effective fire prevention tips you can do at home:

1. Regular electrical inspections – Observe exposed wiring and cables and watch out for signs of wear and tear. If you see copper wires peeking through dry and cracked rubber tubing, be extra careful when handling these cords. Even better, enlist the services of a licensed electrician to repair or replace the damaged wires. Most importantly, have electrical wiring systems professionally inspected regularly. The standard frequency for residential wiring inspections is once every five to 10 years, but you can request it more frequently for your peace of mind.

2. Avoid overloading electrical circuits – It’s best to avoid using multiple appliances with high electrical consumption simultaneously. Similarly, if your appliances and devices that must be plugged in at all times outnumber sockets, it’s best to hire an experienced electrician to rewire the electrical system in the room and install more sockets. It’s safer to plug large appliances directly into a socket than to use a series of extension wires to supply electricity to three or more appliances from just one socket.

3. Keep flammables and fire-starting items out of children’s reach – Keep lighters, matches, candles, and butane torches out of reach of young children. Do the same for other flammable and combustible materials like aerosol cans, chemical cleaning materials, kerosene, and paint.

4. Store flammable substances properly and away from heat sources – Use secure containers recommended for the flammable liquids you store at home, like gasoline and propane. Most importantly, stow them away from heat-generating appliances or ignition sources like the freezer, fireplace, and furnace, and remember never to put a portable heater near these storage locations.

5. Never leave the stove unattended – Most fires originating in the kitchen are because of unattended cooking. It’s normal to forget things occasionally, but you can’t afford to do so when you have something cooking on the stove or oven. The consequences can be devastating otherwise. To avoid fire accidents due to cooking, avoid multitasking or doing other things that will require you to leave the kitchen for long periods.

6. Don’t smoke inside the house – A house has many flammable materials and substances ranging from gas appliances to dangerous aerosol cans. Avoid smoking in the kitchen, basement, or attic. Gas lines often route through these rooms, making it extremely dangerous to smoke in the vicinity should there be even just a tiny leak.

7. Dispose of cigarette butts properly – The safe and proper way of disposing of cigarette butts involves soaking them in water or stubbing them on ashes in an ashtray. The embers must be completely extinguished before being thrown into a bin.

Fireproofing your home isn’t a one-time task. It’s an active measure all household members should participate in to avoid fire risks. Follow these tips to significantly reduce the fire risk in your home and the likelihood of needing to enlist fire damage cleaning services.

Consult Experts in Fire Damage Restoration in Las Vegas

Restoration 1 of Las Vegas provides immediate assistance, from fire damage cleaning to property reconstruction and restoration.

Restoration 1 is a national franchise offering unparalleled property restoration services. Given the destructive nature of house fires, we provide reconstruction services to rebuild houses with massive damage. Our restoration team supervises and ensures builders follow the original structure throughout this process.

Whether you seek fireproofing tips, fire damage cleaning professionals, or meticulous property restoration specialists, Restoration 1 is the company to call. Contact Restoration 1 for more information on fire damage restoration in Las Vegas.