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About This Project
Most fires are unexpected because they’re caused by the most ordinary, everyday items that you normally consider safe: a stove burner, a candle, an electric space heater, the water heater, an extension cord, a cigarette. What typically makes them dangerous are mental lapses, poor judgment, hurried actions and simple carelessness.
While everyone makes mistakes, you can vastly cut down deadly fire risks by exercising good safety habits and simple prevention steps. In this article, we’ll outline the “Big 7” most common causes of preventable fires and tell you the simple things you can and should do to keep them from starting.
Smoke Alarms
According to
statistics, this year fire will claim the lives of 30 of our readers and the
homes of 500 others. Don’t become part of this statistic. Well over 60
percent of house-fire fatalities occur in homes that are missing smoke alarms
or have disabled alarms or alarms with dead batteries. Test your smoke alarms
every month and replace units that are more than 10 years old.
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