Fire Prevention Week

According to the latest statistics, U.S. fire departments responded to 362,500 home fires in 2009, and these fires killed 2,565 people and injured 12,650. The good news is that escape planning, smoke alarms and home fire sprinklers can significantly reduce the risk to children and families.

Here are some ways you can protect your home and family from home fires:

• Develop a home fire escape plan and practice it. According to the NFPA, less than one-fourth of Americans have both developed and practiced a fire escape plan. A home fire can become life threatening more quickly than most people think, so knowing what to do if there is a fire will help everyone make it to safety in less time.

• Make sure you have at least one working smoke alarm on each level of your home, installed high on a wall or on a ceiling. Most importantly, make sure the batteries are working. In more than half of the reported home fires in which smoke alarms were present but did not operate, batteries were missing or disconnected.

• Consider installing a home fire sprinkler, which can contain and even extinguish a fire in less time than it would take the fire department to arrive on the scene. Because they react so quickly in a fire, sprinklers are highly effective in reducing the risk of death or injury from a fire by dramatically reducing heat, flames and smoke, and allowing people time to evacuate the home.