Top Misconceptions About Fires

Top Misconceptions About Fires
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Top Misconceptions About Fires

Although very serious, there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to fire safety. To help you keep your home safe, here are a few top misconceptions about fires.

“It won’t happen to me” - It’s easy to take fire safety for granted and think that a house fire won’t happen to you. But the truth is, a fire can occur anytime and can happen to anyone. From lint in your dryer, to faulty electrical wires, to various items you store in your attic or junk drawer, a lot of things can be a fire hazard without you even knowing it.

“There is plenty of time to escape” – Homes nowadays burn eight times faster today than older homes that were made with better material. There is a lot more synthetic materials being used which burns faster in the event of a fire. Studies show that you have about two minutes or less to escape a fire and here are so many tragic stories out there of families not having enough time to escape from a deadly fire.

“We are prepared” – People often think that they are prepared because they have participated in fire drills at school or at work. However the main difference is that during these drills, you are awake, alert and prepared to escape but when a fire occurs at home, you may either be asleep or in a state of panic. Some ways to prepare your family for a home fire is to have a plan when fire strikes, including where everyone will meet if they get separated. It’s also a good idea to practice escape routes so that you are all ready. Lastly, keep a fire extinguisher in your bedroom so that if you get trapped and the fire is outside your door, you are able to use it to escape.

“My smoke detector will go off in time”– The most common smoke detectors have an alarming rate of failure. Some can take as much as 30 minutes to activate. Most smoke alarms found in the market are ionization smoke alarms. This type of alarm uses a small amount of radioactive material to ionize air in an internal sensing chamber. When smoke enters the chamber, the conductivity of the chamber air will decrease to a predetermined level, the alarm is set off. However, the ions can still flow through despite the particles in a real fire, such as black smoke, entering the chamber. These smoke alarms also have an expiration date so just because you change batteries regularly, the ions could have already expired.

Hero Fire Protection recommends using a photoelectric smoke alarm such as the OmniShield state-of-the-art smoke sensor because it will go off when black smoke is detected. Designed and engineered in the United States, OmniShield incorporates Texas Instruments micro-processors and RF modules to give your home a private network of wireless sensors, so if there is danger in one room, you are alerted in every room of the home. To learn more about this smoke detector, click HERE.

Be sure to also watch our Home Fire Safety Video to learn more about these misconceptions.

If you would like to have your home evaluated for fire safety, let Hero Fire Protection help! We are a full-service fire protection company in Hawaii dedicated in educating families about the devastating effects of home fires and other home safety issues. Contact us today to get a FREE fire safety assessment and receive a FREE emergency kit.

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