How Safe Is Your Home?

Each year, over 4,000 Americans perish and more than 20,000 others suffer serious injuries because of residential fires.

Survival Tips

  • Make sure your family has an escape plan. You can contact the Fire Prevention office for more information on developing a plan.
  • Sleep with the bedroom door closed. Closed doors provide protection against heat and smoke.
  • Teach everyone in your household to recognize the sound of your smoke alarm.
  • Test doors before opening them. Heat, smoke or flames can easily overcome you when you open a door to an area where fire has spread.
  • Use windows as alternate exits.
  • Crawl low under smoke. During a fire, super heated air and toxic gases fill the room from the top down. This leaves a "safety zone" of breathable air about 12 to 24 inches above the floor.
  • If your clothes catch on fire: StopDrop, and Roll.

Self-Inspection Checklist

Please take a few moments to complete the self-inspection checklist(PDF, 48KB). While some items might not apply to your household, any item you answer "NO" could represent a potential hazard in your home that should be corrected. If you answer "YES" to all of the items, we congratulate you on your personal fire prevention efforts!

Image of a house