This weekend it is time to change the clocks and spring forward. It is a good time for some simple housekeeping items that could save a life.
Checking batteries in smoke detectors is at the top of the list. The Fort Wayne Fire Department says that if people only had a new set of batteries for smoke detectors, it could save lives. It is also important to review an escape plan with your family so each individual knows what to do in the case of a fire. Also ensuring the home is free of various fire hazards.
“Smoke detectors allow people to get up see what’s going on. Most the time when we have a fatal fire, there is not a working smoke detector. It’s important to have a safety plan that prepares you to think about where that fire is and how you’re going to get away from it, or get out of the house. We know that we see this every time we have a fatal fire. Human beings are conditioned to leave the house from the same door that they come in through,” Deputy Chief of the Fort Wayne Fire Department Adam O’Connor says.
The Fort Wayne Fire department has a guide on the website to help determine a safety plan and the best way to escape your house in the case of a fire.
This week there have been at least three fire in Fort Wayne related to smoke materials.
“You might have been throwing cigarettes out your window into a bank of snow for the last three months, but now that’s grass, and it’s dead grass, and so it does light on fire so be cautious very familiar cigarette butts time of year. We do have a lot of grass fires, because the grass is dead and even if it looks wet, it still has the potential to catch on fire. We’ve had a little rash of those this week in the county that has some fairly large brush fires grass fires,” O’Connor says.
