Why You Need A Smoke Alarm

During the colder months especially, we spend a lot more time in our homes hibernating from the outside world. Because of this we end up often increasing the risk of a house fire by a huge amount. It is crucial for everyone to have a fire alarm in their homes to protect them against anything ever happening, and it will give you that peace of mind to go about your life knowing that you have a safety precaution installed in the home.

A smoke alarm placed in the right room of your home can detect a fire early and will go off to warn you to get yourself and your family out of the house as quickly as you can.

Because in the winter we like to stay indoors, we also tend to bring more items and heighten the risk of fire in other ways too. For example during the festive period we bring lots of flammable decorations like the tree, string garlands and we also put fairy lights all over the home too. Lighting candles in the evening can a.so pose a risk if we are not careful about where we light them and what they are near to. Ideally you want to avoid putting candles anywhere near curtains or other fabrics and never place your Christmas cards directly next to the candle on the mantelpiece. If you do light candles, it’s perfectly safe as long as you stay in the room to monitor the flames. Some candles can give off larger flames than other due to the type of wick, so be aware that your candle may give off larger flames than you thought. If you leave the room for a long period of time, always blow the candles out for safety.

We prepare for the cold in many ways by bringing things into our homes and layering up, but we also need to incorporate the addition of a smoke alarm or a test to make sure the batteries have not run out. Even if you don’t use your smoke alarm at all, the battery life of it will start to fade over time so you need to be checking that it works at least once every 3 months.

As we heat our homes during the winter period, we are heightening the risk of fire even more. If your home has a fireplace or open fire, you need to be incredibly careful as you light the fire in your home every night. If your chimney becomes blocked or damaged you could cause a fire because there is no ventilation in the chimney. You must also make sure you have a fire guard which is not only beneficial for if you have children or pets, but can also stop a fire from being able to spread.

Be very careful when you are using an electric heater around any flammable furniture in your living room as this may cause a fire hazard and your smoke alarms will come into play.

Never leave any form of heating like this unattended as you leave the room.

You may have gotten lots of fun gadgets to play with on Christmas Day, but keep in mind to make sure you don’t overload your plug sockets with lots of devices at once. If you overload your socket, it will spark and can cause a fire which will spread through your gadgets and burn through your carpet. This is especially crucial during the christmas period as we end up clogging the sockets with lights and decorations for the home. By mindful that your sockets can only cope with a certain amount at once.

Make sure that you regularly inspect your electrical appliances and cables as they will degrade and become fragile over time. This is especially important in your kitchen because the last thing you want on Christmas morning is your oven to stop working.

The most important benefit of having a smoke alarm in your home is that there is a much lower risk of you or your family suffering from fatal injuries sustained in a fire. A smoke alarm can allow you to be alerted to the presence of a fire within 5 minutes of it starting, which will give you plenty of time to call the fire brigade and get everyone out safely outside the house. To protect the people you love and make sure that you can all escape the home in the event of a fire, you need to get yourself a smoke alarm today.