We didn't start the fire here on Green at Home with Sarah and Teneil. Sarah, I know you know who that is. Billy Joel. Billy Joel.
Billy Joel, we didn't start the fire and that's good because last week was actually National Fire Prevention Week. Oh, okay. So we started fires, but I will tell you a serious statistic. Okay.
Over 350,000 fires happened. House fires in 2019, according to FEMA. That is a lot. That's a whole lot of people whose homes, possessions, all of these things were threatened by fire.
All may not have been total demonstrations, but it caused a whole lot of damage. Right. I'm going to guess that most of them started in the kitchen. Absolutely.
According to FEMA, 50% were doing some cooking issue. Then we had some to the heating, but 8% were unintentional or careless fires. That's just all lumped together. Stuff just didn't have to happen.
And then there was some electrical and other things. So we just want to kind of think as fall is here, fall fire hasn't. Things that we need to think about that are specific to this season to protect our homes. And I'm just going to start with the thing we hear about twice a year.
Every time the time changes, we're supposed to change our batteries and our smoke detectors. We do hear that. We hear it. And I'm taking some notes because there are just the things that need to happen in my home.
So time changes November 7th. We're going to fall back. I can remember that day. That's my sister's birthday.
Oh, well, there you go. We all put the cake, change the batteries. That's a good thing to do. But that's really a smart idea.
You don't always know that you need new batteries until it's the time you. Well, now there's bourbon and stuff going on. You don't have to wait until the time's finished. Go ahead and do it if your batteries are dead or if they're giving you some warning signs.
But when we fall back and then again, when we spring ahead, you know, the time to put some fresh batteries in. And we would encourage everyone to kind of do a home assessment and make sure that your smoke detectors are at least 10 feet from any cooking appliance that you might have. You know, because it's going to keep going off. Yeah.
And you're going to just desensitize. Right. You're just going to stop taking it seriously here. I agree.
You also want to make sure that they're high in on the walls in your bedrooms and your staircases, laundry rooms, any of your living areas you want high because smoke does what? Oh, smoke rises. So yeah, I guess we would. We'd want them high on the walls.
That's right. Again, I'm taking some notes over here because some changes need to happen in my house. Yeah. This next tip is one that I really try to pay attention to because I love a good smelling candle.
Oh, fall sense. You know, that's one of my favorite things about all are the sense. I have my very specific candle that I love to burn. Oh, it's very important that you make sure that you blow them out if you leave the house.
If you're feeling yourself, get tired or bedtime. You want to keep them away. If you have small children where they can easily reach it and knock it over, burn themselves, those types of things. Yeah.
Now, if you try to get the flameless candles, the LED lights, and the candles, those types of things, I have not, but I've seen them. And you know, I saw some recently that they're looking better. They're looking more real good. I saw some recently that actually stopped and picked up and looked at.
Well, this would be a great option. Just if I wanted the look of the candle burning without risk. Yeah, that's true. It just sounds like the same.
But, you know, I would rather use the real candle and just make sure that we pay attention to it and, you know, blow it out when we're going to be away. Another thing we don't need to do when we're sleepy or distracted is to cook when we're in. And I'll tell you this. Sometimes my mind gets so scattered.
If I look and I say, okay, this needs to come out at seven o'clock. Who knows where my mind is? I could be watching something. I could be asleep.
I could be doing something. I could be doing something. I could be the house and go do something. I always set a timer when I'm cooking.
That's very smart. That's just to snap me back in reality. It's like, you know, I got something cooking. And so we cannot leave things unattended or if we might possibly get distracted.
And also we need to make sure we keep stuff off of the stovetop. Oh my goodness, I actually know someone who's kitchen caught on fire because of clutter on their stovetop. Yeah. I think about that sometime I may have some plastic that's too close to the lumber and I move it back.
And I take something out of the oven, I oven it. You know, not put it somewhere else. Put it somewhere else, you know, make sure it's away from your stovetop. Because again, 50% of those house fires in 2019 had to do with cooking.
Yeah. So definitely be aware when you're cooking. Yeah. You know, this is also the time of year we start the nights are getting cooler.
You know, we need to get our heating unit service yearly. That's a really big deal. Your central unit, get it serviced, get somebody out there that, you know, will take care of it and service it. It's really important too.
If you heat with gas to have a carbon monoxide detector in your home. You know, that is important because we need to monitor that. Yeah. And I mean, that's not that you don't smell.
It is deadly. It can be deadly. So you definitely want to have carbon monoxide detectors out. Also, some people heat with space heaters.
You can understand why don't run up the utility bill. I'm just, I just wanted in this small area. I didn't know people that keep on my their office. Yeah.
You know, their area. We'll make sure that there's at least three foot of clearance around them in the front. Oh, the front all sides. Don't say anything on top of it, you know, it needs to be freestanding with a clearance of about three feet around it.
Yeah. Yeah. We want to use them. But use them safely.
Yes. And like about nine percent of those house fires have to do with heating. Yeah. Not specific to what type of heating.
But some type of heating, so five places it's something that we need to think about. I don't have one, but if you do have one, make sure you give your chimney inspected every year. Use our place screens so that those flames don't you know, you know, she was. You have a real fire.
Yeah, you have a real fire. It's funny we're talking real candles real fire place, but if you're doing these things, you know, make sure that you're you know, being safe about it. Get your chimney swept. If it needs to be swept so that we make sure that everything is running the way that should be.
You know, that's not to go up. You want to be out. Even outdoor fire. So they can cause a house fires will never leave any burning fireplace unattended whether it's outside inside, you know Fire these you know one spark.
Yeah, it can be an issue. Yes. Yes treat it. You got respect it Yeah, um speaking of houses more than 200 house fires a year involve Christmas trees 200 a year and this is for live trees Yeah, we have my family uses so, you know, they can get dry when you're purchasing your tree You want to get it as fresh as possible.
You know, there's more moisture in it I know nothing about this my tree comes out of a box for you We are real tree people okay real candles for real our place real Christmas for you You know just thanks to think about keeping them at least three feet for me heat source again I mean you bought if you might have you brought in something that can be flammable. So keep it don't put it right up next to your fireplace, right? Pretty picture my is near my fireplace the more than three. Okay.
I can still get the whole scene. Okay. Okay. Keep it at water Just key like check it every day You want to make sure that has enough water and then when you go to bed or you're leaving the house do not leave the Christmas lights on turn Them off now I'm gonna do that with artificial tree that thing has to be turned off We go to bed it has me turn off and leave the house.
I just don't trust it. Yeah You know those lights have been on for a couple hours or more You can touch them and they are hot to the touch So it's definitely no matter what tree turn your lights off If you have a real tree keep it water and keep it away from heat sources and buy it as fresh as possible. Okay, all right Well fire extinguishers are gonna be the key to putting out fire safely and quickly know where they are in your house Know how to use them Make sure that you have looked over the instructions if you don't have one get one because I did a little research before this Just to kind of see the price point from some of your home improvement stores $30 and up You know your most basic small one can be for thirty something dollars and then of course they go up So, you know look through make that a priority to secure one I mean that could be a difference maker. Yeah, I'll grab that Mm-hmm, you know putting a small fire out versus having to battle a big one and calling, you know the firefighting and losing your things Right.
Yeah, so definitely and one of the big things that we want to talk about before we wrap up today is Make sure your children know what to do if there's a fire or if there's smoke. How do you call 911? Talk them through that if there's a fire we get a family plan on how to get out of the house Make sure they know how to get out of the house if there's a fire in various rooms of home What if they can't get out the bedroom? You know more than one way out of the house to talk to them about how to get out of their bedroom safely or if they can still get through The house that the way to know that what it's safe.
I you know is the door hot It's like that and then where are you gonna meet when you get outside? That's important because of say something happened during the night and you know We need to make a house. What's our meeting point going to be for the family? My home we don't our bedroom is on the same side of the house as a kid So what's up and happen at night where I couldn't get to them right and they did they know what to do?
Mm-hmm, you know, it's it's a very important topic to discuss with your kids of all ages Not just you know your younger kids, but your kids of all ages need to know the safe plan to get out of the house Yes, very important So we want to talk to these fall fire hazards because you know we're getting ready to start heating our homes more We're gonna start cooking indoors more and you know, it's the season to start cooking I mean, you know, like you said all of these are coming together changing Yes, you know, so we just want to be prepared we do so. Thank you all for listening to this episode in the words Of Bob Marley live the life you love and love the life you live safe our safe everybody