Fire Prevention Month: Basement Fires

10/10/2019 (Permalink)

Now that Fire Prevention Month is underway, SERVPRO of West Brown County would like to remind you there are several ways to prepare your household for unexpected fire emergencies.

This week's focus is on ways you can fire-safe your basement.

The basement is a room in the house that most people use as a secondary area to entertain guests, living quarters, or a site to store seasonal items. It could also be the one place in your house you may not spend that much time in; therefore, it would be a good idea to inspect the room for certain safety features that could contain a fire if one were to break out unexpectedly.

The following tips are helpful suggestions from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA):

Early Warning Devices

• Install a smoke alarm in the basement. Test the alarm each month and clean as needed. The basement smoke alarm should be connected to other smoke alarms in your home.
• If you have oil, gas or wood-burning equipment in the basement, you should also have a carbon monoxide alarm installed in the basement.

Utilities

• Maintain easy, quick access to your fuse box or circuit breaker panel.
• Keep the burner access doors on gas water heaters and gas furnaces closed to prevent flames from escaping and starting a fire.

 Housekeeping

• Keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet from the furnace, oil burner, wood stoves, water heaters, and other heat-generating equipment.
• Keep oily rags in airtight containers and away from heat sources.
• Trash should not be stored in the basement.
• Washers and dryers should be plugged directly into wall outlets.
• Clean lint filters every time you use the dryer.
• Clean the dryer vent ductwork every year.
• Keep stairs free of clutter and safe for quick exit in an emergency.

The best thing you could do for your home and family is to practice these precautionary measures several times throughout the year.

In the event your basement was to catch fire, chances are certain areas of your home could also suffer from fire and smoke damage from firefighting efforts. SERVPRO of West Brown County wants you to know we have technicians specialized in fire restoration training that is needed to restore your basement to pre-fire conditions. 

We have technicians on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ready to go into action when they are needed. If you have questions about fire, smoke, or soot damage, call us today at (920) 434-8224.