Missouri City Fire & Rescue is teaming up with the National Fire Protection Association for Fire Prevention Week from Oct. 4 to Oct. 10. This year’s campaign focuses on ways to keep homes fire safe and prevent painful burns. Fire safety educators will also be teaching local residents how to plan and practice escape from a home.
“The most common types of burn injuries result from fire or flame burns, scalds and contact burns,” said Curtis Campbell, Missouri City Fire Marshal. “Burns are painful and can result in serious scarring and even death. When we take extra precautions in our homes to ensure that the curling iron is out of children’s reach or pot handles are turned away from the edge of the stove, such injuries are preventable. Keeping our homes safe from fire and preventing devastating burn injuries is a change we can make to prevent these injuries.”
Missouri City had 35 structure fires in 2008, 24 of which were accidental. So far this year, 22 fires have been reported, with 15 determined accidental. The majority of the accidental fire causes are careless smoking, children playing with fire and unattended cooking or candles.
The Missouri City Fire Department offers the following tips:
-
Keep hot foods and liquids away from tables and counter edges so they cannot be pulled or knocked over.
-
Have a 3-foot “kid-free” zone around the stove.
-
Never hold a child in your arms while preparing hot food or drinking a hot beverage.
-
Be careful when using things that get hot such as curling irons, oven, irons, lamps, heaters.
-
Install tamper-resistant receptacles to prevent a child from sticking an object in the outlet.
-
Never leave a child alone in a room with a lit candle, portable heater, lit fireplace or stove, or where a hot appliance might be in use.
-
Wear short or close-fitting sleeves when cooking.
-
Set your hot water temperature no higher than 120 degrees.
-
Install anti-scald valves on shower heads and faucets.
