From the U.S. Fire Administration – Quick Response Program

Fire Safety in the News

When a member of your community is killed in a home fire, it is important to let others know how they can prevent a similar tragedy. As you continue to report on the fire, the U.S. Fire Administration encourages you to remind your audience that many fire deaths and injuries are preventable.

More than 4,000 Americans die each year in fires and approximately 20,000 are injured. Many of them might be alive today if only they had the information they needed to avoid a disaster.

The following life-saving tips could make a big difference to your audience. By incorporating them in your story now, while the moment is still fresh, you could help save a life.

Careless Smoking Life-Saving Tips

• Install a smoke alarm on every level of your home. Test smoke alarm batteries every month and change them at least once
a year. Consider installing a 10-year lithium battery-powered smoke alarm, which is sealed so it cannot be tampered with or
opened.

• Never smoke in bed. Replace mattresses made prior to the 1973
Federal Mattress Flammability Standard.

• Don’t put ashtrays on the arms of sofas or chairs.

• Use deep ashtrays and soak ashes in water before disposal.

• Don’t leave cigarettes, cigars, or pipes unattended. Put out all
smoking materials before you walk away.

• If you begin to feel drowsy while watching television or reading, extinguish
your cigarette or cigar.

• Close a matchbook before striking and hold it away from your body.
Set your lighter on “low” flame.

• If smokers have visited, be sure to check the floor and around chair
cushions for ashes that may have dropped accidentally.

• Develop and practice a fire escape plan. In case of a fire, stay low
to the ground, beneath the smoke. Get out. Stay out.

Did you know?

• Eighty-two percent of all fire deaths occur in the home.

• Careless smoking is the second leading cause of fire deaths

• Deaths due to fires caused by careless smoking are particularly preventable.

• Having a working smoke alarm reduces one’s chances of dying in a fire by nearly
half.

Following these simple fire safety tips can increase survival rates dramatically. Please share them with your audience because knowledge is the best fire protection.