Turn off the electricity and gas, go out if there is no smoke at the door…
In the last month, several people have died due to fires in their homes: an 89-year-old man in Alicante, another 60-year-old in Lugo, a 29-year-old man in Madrid, a 44-year-old woman in Segovia and a 4-year-old girl in Valencia. The victims were found inside their homes by emergency services. Some died from smoke inhalation; others, calcined. Fires in the home seem an unlikely event but the data says otherwise: in Spain there are 16 incidents of this type in homes every hour. According to data from the We Are Safe initiative, in 2020 a total of 166,092 fires were registered in our country, 80% of them in the domestic sphere.
The Professional Association of Fire Technicians says that the living room is the most dangerous place in the house and 53.3% of the deaths occurred in this room; 23.3% in the bedroom and 19.8% in the kitchen. Among the causes that originated the flames are the misuse of electrical appliances, followed by the use of stoves, fireplaces and braziers. In this situation, and given the lack of general knowledge on how to deal with a risk situation of this type, the specialized company Iberext and Rubén Garrido, firefighter sergeant from Calahorra (La Rioja), offer guidance on what to do and what not to do when a fire breaks out.
Home Fire Prevention Tips
1. Check the electrical installation
Check the condition of cables and plugs to repair them in case it is necessary
2. Do not overload the electrical network
Do not saturate the current with appliances and hire a
power adequate
to your needs
3. Check the gas installation
call a qualified technician and check the valve carboys (if this is your case)
4. Extreme precautions
with the chimneys
Avoid using it if you are not at home or while Do you sleep.
Do not put close rugs, sofas, curtains,…
5. Do not accumulate flammable products
Avoid storing them all together and keep them away from sources of heat or sources of flame
6. Protect your home against fire
install smoke detectors and have located a fire extinguisher in your neighborhood community
1.Remove the safety pin
See if the needle of the manometer is in the green area. If not, it will not have enough pressure to put out the fire
2. Tackle the fire in
wind direction
Point the hose at the base
Already 3 meters of fire
3. To release the extinguishing agent, squeeze the lever or upper wing
It is recommended to make a Test short one or two seconds to verify that it is working correctly
4. Move the hose from
one side to the other (zigzag)
During use, keep the fire extinguisher in vertical. To stop downloading the
fire extinguisher, release the lever
5. Once the fire is off, leave
the fire extinguisher lying on the ground
So firefighters and/or staff
manager will know what has been
used and must be reloaded
Home Fire Prevention Tips
1. Check the electrical installation
Check the condition of cables and plugs to repair them in case it is necessary
2. Do not overload the electrical network
Do not saturate the current with appliances and hire a
power adequate
to your needs
3. Check the
installation of gas
call a qualified technician and check the valve carboys (if this is your case)
4. Take extreme precautions with fireplaces
Avoid using it if you are not at home or while Do you sleep. Do not put close rugs, sofas, curtains,…
5. Do not accumulate flammable products
Avoid storing them all together and keep them away from sources of heat or sources of flame
6. Protect your home against fire
install smoke detectors and have located a fire extinguisher in your neighborhood community
1.Remove the safety pin
See if the needle of the manometer is in the green area. If not, it will not have enough pressure to put out the fire
2. Approach the fire downwind
Point the hose at the base Already 3 meters of fire
3. To release the extinguishing agent,
squeeze the lever or top wing
It is recommended to make a Test short of one
or two seconds to verify that it is working correctly
4. Move the hose from one side to the other (zigzag)
During use, keep the fire extinguisher in vertical. To stop discharging the extinguisher, release the lever
5. Once the fire is off, leave
the fire extinguisher lying on the ground
This way the firefighters and/or personnel in charge will know that it has been used and should be reloaded
Home Fire Prevention Tips
1. Check the electrical installation
Check the condition of cables and plugs to repair them in case it is necessary
2. Do not overload the electrical network
Do not saturate the current with appliances and hire a
power adequate
to your needs
3. Check the
installation of gas
call a qualified technician and check the valve carboys (if this is your case)
4. Take extreme precautions with fireplaces
Avoid using it if you are not at home or while Do you sleep. Do not put close rugs, sofas, curtains,…
5. Do not accumulate flammable products
Avoid storing them all together and keep them away from sources of heat or sources of flame
6. Protect your home
fire protection
install smoke detectors and have located a fire extinguisher in your neighborhood community
1.Remove the safety pin
See if the needle of the manometer is in the green area. If not, it will not have enough pressure to put out the fire
2. Tackle the fire
in the direction of the wind
Point the hose at the base Already 3 meters of fire
3. To release the extinguishing agent, squeeze the lever or upper wing
It is recommended to make a Test short one or two seconds to verify that
works correctly
4. Move the hose
from one side to the other (zigzag)
During use, keep the fire extinguisher in vertical. To stop discharging the extinguisher, release the lever
5. Once the
fire, leave the extinguisher lying on the ground
This way the firefighters and/or personnel in charge will know that it has been used and should be reloaded
Call to emergency
The first thing, Garrido points out, is to remain calm and “call the emergency services at 112.” In this call they will provide us with information on how to act while the troops arrive. “From the activation of the coordinating center until we leave the door with the equipped trucks, less than 2 minutes pass and between 7 and 12 minutes to reach the affected address,” the sergeant calculates the times.
Get out if you can; if not, get away from the smoke
In those crucial moments, what to do? Garrido indicates that we must ask ourselves a question: is there smoke in the evacuation exit? If so, “we must confine ourselves to the room of the house furthest from the area affected by the smoke and where we can make ourselves visible. We will close the doors on our way and put wet towels under the doors. If there is no smoke at the exit, we will leave the house, closing the door and notifying the emergency services that there is no one inside the house. “All information is vitally important.” The expert warns that smoke is the cause of death in 80% of these fires.
Precautions: fire extinguisher and blanket
Although sometimes unavoidable, there are precautions we can take. “The first thing is to check that the apartment or office has the appropriate protection measures and know how they work.” These would be “an accessible fire extinguisher, a fire blanket and multifunction smoke detectors to be alerted to any outbreak of fire.” You also have to know where the emergency exit is and make sure that the doors that act as disconnectors (located between the stairwell and the front door) are closed.
There is fire: turn off the gas and cut off the current
Once the fire has been declared, the gas must be shut off and the electricity must be cut off. Be careful with water: you can’t pour it on everything. For example, never to a burning frying pan because the oil, being less dense than water and the water evaporating before, could cause an overflow by boiling».
www.hoy.es
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.