How To Make My Home Prepared For A Fire?

You might have just gotten a new home or you are planning to ensure that your current home is prepared for a fire. Well, we are here to help. As we all know how deadly a house fire can be and what the damages it can cause, it is always good to be prepared for anything. 

As the saying goes, better safe than sorry. Here we will let you know of items you should have in your home such as a fire alarm system and many other things.

Fire safety is established everywhere where there is a possibility of a fire happening, the most common places are restaurants, industrial areas, offices and homes. The first thing when it comes to fire safety is ensuring that protocols are in place to prevent a fire from happening followed by equipment that is able to notify you in case a fire breaks out and finally necessary equipment to put out the fire and ways for you to escape to safety.

Fire safety policies are in place at the start of a construction of a building and throughout the lifetime of the building. Government ensures that features such as fire alarms, fire exits, fire rated doors, windows and walls are well in place. For homes, your building is already following the protocols that have been put in place by the Singapore government and fire safety department (namely the Singapore Civil Defence Force or SCDF). It is best for you to do the same for your home. 

Here is a list of common fire hazards that commonly are the reasons for a fire to break out:

  • Kitchen fires from leaving cooking unattended
  • Overload of electrical systems
  • Leaving items that are highly flammable or combustible near equipment that generates heat or sparks
  • Candles and any other open flames
  • Smoking( lighters, cigarettes,etc.)
  • Flammable liquid
  • Cooking appliances
  • Household appliances

As there are many opportunities for a fire to take place or break out in your house we highly encourage you to purchase the necessary things that exist to prevent such a situation such as a fire alarm system. This system includes many components that come with features designed to help save lives and keep you protected. 

The system includes; primary/secondary power supply, carbon monoxide and smoke detector, audio alerts, flashing lights and a control panel for constant monitoring and dispatch management in case the situation gets out of control. Fire alarms have many advantages such as:

  • Early Fire Detection

An audible or visual signal will give you the opportunity to seek safety before the fire gets out of hand. Once the system is activated you can use a fire extinguisher that we highly encourage you to purchase for your home to protect your home or to rush your family to safety. Early detection gives you the opportunity to escape and prevent serious damages from taking place. An alarm can also be set to activate the fire fighters so that they can be on their way towards the fire to help put it out and prevent further damages from occurring.

  • Placement flexibility

The fire alarm can be placed just about anywhere you want it to be. We encourage you to place it near your kitchen or any other places with fire hazards to fully maximise the effectiveness of the detector. Placing it near your rooms and family rooms is also important as this will make it easier to hear the alarm in case a fire does break out.

  • Always monitoring

It provides constant protection even when you are asleep or if you are away in which case you can use the receive remote. All these advantages just amplifies the use of a fire alarm system.

  • Easy and Affordable

Once the fire and smoke detectors are installed it is easy to use. They have the ability to sense hazardous conditions without you doing anything.

  • Maintenance

Even though they are highly used and go through a lot they only require little maintenance other than the changing of batteries

Some other equipment you can purchase to be prepared is a fire extinguisher. A fire extinguisher is an extremely useful piece of fire protection equipment when a fire breaks out as it has the capability to put it out. However, depending on the size of the fire you may want to ensure that you and your family are in a safe location as the fire extinguisher may not be able to put out a big fire, it is encouraged that you rush to safety and alert the authorities. Having a fire rated door is also beneficial as if there happens to be a fire in your house and you are not inside this helps to keep the fire within the house which then allows others to use the walkway along your house to escape as well. 

Not having a fire rated door near the staircase of your building can be highly dangerous as this may result in people not being able to escape from the building but instead wait for the fire fighters to come and put themselves in the risk of hurting themselves. Most houses in Singapore currently have fire rated doors due to the severity of a fire breaking out.

The SCDF has done many open houses and are still currently doing it. We highly encourage you to visit these open houses as you will get to learn more about the safety regulations that they follow and you can learn about what more you can do to be more prepared. Certain times there are exhibitions where you can see the equipment they use and they will also teach you all about a fire extinguisher and how to use it, if you are lucky you may get the opportunity to use it at the exhibitions itself to have a feel of how it actually works. During these exhibitions and open houses they usually have fire safety equipment on sale for you to purchase and you need not worry about the quality as it is provided by them.

Having these equipment does not only benefit you but those around you as well. As those around you may not have purchased the items you have purchased. This will be helpful if you are prepared. We have to take the first step before we can think of helping others. Always be prepared for anything. We hope this article has helped you.