NEVER STORE FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS IN THE KITCHEN.IT’S POSSIBLE TO STILL...

7.

Never store flammable liquids in the kitchen.

It’s possible to still have a small grease fire occasionally while cooking. (Be espe cially careful

when frying foods.) Be prepared to respond immediately to such a fire. Respond to a small grease

fire on the stove by turning off all burners on the stove and quickly covering the burning pan with

a large metal lid. If no metal lid is at hand, pour a large quantity of flour onto the burning area to

smother the flames while you get a cookie sheet to place of top of the pan to seal off the oxygen—

Fire Protection

113

or use your fire extinguisher to put the fire out. Don’t pick up the pan and carry it to the sink. You

may burn yourself, spill burning grease, or drop the pan and start a fire on the floor.

Although more fires start in kitchens than in any other rooms, cooking isn’t the main culprit. The

number one cause of home fires is heating equipment. Nearly one-fourth of home fires involve space

heaters, fireplaces, or wood stoves.

To avoid a heating equipment fire:

• Make sure any heating equipment you buy is tested and approved by an independent testing

laboratory (such as Underwriters Laboratories).

• Be sure to follow the manufacturers’ instructions when using the equipment.

• Never leave flammable materials near heating equipment.

• If you use a space heater, always keep it at least 36 inches away from anything combustible,

including wallpaper, bedding, and clothing.

• At the start of each heating season, make sure the heating system is in good working order. Check

standing heaters for fraying or splitting wires and for overheating. If any problems are noticeable,

have all necessary repairs done by a professional.

During a typical year in the United States, home appliances and wiring prob lems account for

about 100,000 fires and over $760 million in property loses.

Many fires could have been prevented if someone simply had noticed a frayed or cracked elec-

trical cord and had it replaced.

You may think most of the preceding fire safety suggestions are so obvi ous that they don’t need

to be stated. They are “obvious,” but everyday fires occur because someone failed to take one of those

simple precautions. In addition to following those suggestions, you should have a few safety prod-

ucts, such as smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.

Smoke Detectors

A working smoke detector is the single most-important home safety device. About 80 percent of all

fire deaths occur in homes not equipped with enough working smoke detectors. Most fatal fires hap-

pen between midnight and 4 a.m., when residents are asleep. Without a working smoke detector, peo-

ple may not wake up during a fire because smoke contains poi sonous gases that can put people into

a deeper sleep.

The vast majority of homes in the United States have at least one smoke detector installed, but

most of the detectors don’t work because their batteries are dead or missing. Simply having a smoke

detector isn’t enough. It has to be in working order to help people stay safe.

There are two basic types of smoke detectors: ionization detectors and pho toelectric detectors.

They work on different principles, but either type is fine for most homes. Considering that many

models sell for less that $10, it’s foolish not to have several working smoke detectors in a home or

office.

Smoke detectors should be installed on every level of a building, including the basement. A detec-

tor should be placed directly outside each sleeping room. The best location is 6 inches away from air

vents and about 6 inches away from walls and corners.

Test all smoke detectors once a month to make sure they’re in good working order. If they’re bat-

tery-operated, replace the batteries as needed—usually about twice a year. Some models sound an

audible alert when the bat tery is running low. Don’t make the mistake of removing smoke detectors’

batteries to use them for operating something else.

114

Locksmith and Security Professionals’ Exam Study Guide

The Kidsmart Vocal Smoke Alarm

Traditional smoke detectors do not reliably awaken sleeping children. This is not so because the

detectors aren’t loud enough, but rather because our brains respond better to a familiar sound when

we are sleeping than to the shrill tone of a conventional alarm. This recently discovered problem has

been documented by media stations across the United States.

And, the solution—a personally recorded “familiar voice message”—has been studied by respected

institutions from around the globe, including the Victoria University Sleep Laboratory of Melbourne,

Australia, the world’s foremost authority on sleeping and waking behaviors. In those tests, Dr. Dorothy

Bruck discovered that 100 percent of all children tested with a “familiar voice” awoke within seconds.

Additionally, tests have either been conducted or are currently ongoing by the following institu-

tions: Consumer Product Safety Commission, U.S. Naval Academy Fire Department, University of

Georgia, and others.

Fire Extinguishers

A fire extinguisher can offer good protection if the right model is used, and if the user knows how

and when to use it. If the wrong type is used, it can make the fire spread. There are several types of

fire extinguishers, and each type is designed to extinguisher fires from particular sources. The main

types of fire extinguishers are:

•

Class A—for wood, paper, plastic, and clothing fires

•

Class B—for grease, gasoline, petroleum oil, and other flammable liquids fires

•

Class C—for electrical equipment and wiring fires

For most homes and offices, a good idea is to buy a class ABC fire extinguisher, because it’s useful

for a wide range of types of fires.

Buy a fire extinguisher that everyone in the home or office will find easy to use. A fire extinguisher

won’t be much good if no one is strong enough to lift it. Look for a model with a pressure-gauge dial.

Then, your customers will know at a glance when the pressure is low and the extinguisher needs to

be refilled.

When you sell a fire extinguisher, advise your customer to read the instructions carefully. That will

help them be ready to use it correctly and without hesitation at any time. In most cases, they should

stand at least 8 feet away from the fire, remove a pin from the extinguisher, aim the nozzle at the base

of the fire, and squeeze the trigger while sweeping the nozzle back and forth at the base of the fire

until they’re sure the fire is out. An easy way to remember how to use the fire extinguisher is to

remember the acronym PASS, which stands for pull, aim, squeeze, and sweep.

Emphasize to your customer that owning a fire extinguisher doesn’t make them a firefighter, and

that visible flames are only one lethal element of a fire. Unless it’s a small fire that can be quickly put

out, the customer should call the fire department. A fire extinguisher is only for putting out a small

fire, but many small fires can spread quickly, and then become uncontrollable and life-threatening.

Escape Ladders

If your customer lives in a multiple-story home, they should plan a way to escape safely from win-

dows located above the ground floor. One option is to install rope-ladder hooks outside each upper-

floor bedroom and keep a rope ladder in each of the bedroom closets. Another option is to use a fixed

ladder, such as the Redi-Exit.

Fire Protection

115

The

Redi-Exit

is a unique ladder disguised as a downspout when not being used. Its shape dis-

courages people from trying to use it to gain entry into a home. From an upper-floor window, you

can open the Redi-Exit by striking down on a release knob. The unit can be installed on a new or an

existing home.

Fire Sprinkler Systems

Studies by the U.S. Fire Administration indicate the installation of quick-response fire sprinkler sys-

tems in homes could save thousands of lives, prevent a large portion of fire-related injuries, and elim-

inate hundreds of millions of dol lars in property losses each year. Sprinklers are the most reliable and

effective fire protection devices known because they operate immediately and don’t rely on the pres-

ence or actions of people in the building. Residential sprinklers have been used by businesses for over

a century, but most homeowners haven’t considered installing them because they are misinformed

about sprinklers and misunderstand their use.

One misconception about residential sprinklers is that all of them are activated at once, dousing

the entire house. In reality, only the sprinkler directly over the fire goes off because each sprinkler

head is designed to react indi vidually to the temperature in that particular room. A fire in a kitchen,

for example, won’t activate a sprinkler head in a bedroom.

Another misconception is that fire sprinklers are prohibitively expensive. A home sprinkler sys-

tem can cost less than 1 percent of the cost of a new home—about $1.50 per square foot. The addi-

tional cost may be minimal when spread over the life of a mortgage. You may find a home sprinkler

system virtu ally pays for itself in homeowner’s insurance savings. Some insurers give up to 15 per-

cent premium discounts for homes with sprinkler systems.

If your customer can’t see their way clear to installing a full-blown sprinkler system, suggest one

that protects one of your most vulnerable areas—the kitchen stove. The Guardian is the first automatic

range-top fire extinguisher available for home use. It was developed for U.S. military use after a 1984

study identified cooking-grease fires as the number one cause of fire damage and injuries in military-

base housing. The patented system uses specially calibrated heat detec tors to trigger the release of a

fire-extinguishing chemical.

When the chemical is released, the system automatically shuts off the stove. In laboratory tests,

The Guardian has been found to detect and extinguish stove-top fires within seconds—but not to acti-

vate under normal cooking conditions. You can install it so it also activates an alarm inside a home.

The Guardian is UL-listed and combines a fire-detection assembly and a chemical distribution

system into a single automatic unit. The fire-detection system can be installed neatly under any stan-

dard range-top hood. Cables con nect it to the extinguisher assembly, which is housed in the cabinetry

above the stove top. A pressurized container stores a fire-extinguishing liquid that is dis tributed

through stainless steel piping to the underhood nozzles.

Here’s how The Guardian responds when a stove-top fire starts: