6 Must-Have Fire Safety Equipment for Your Home

Fire safety equipment for your home is vital to ensure your home and family are always safe and well protected from unfortunate accidental events. We wrote this blog to help you with which equipment you should have to secure your family in a potential fire emergency.

There are many fire risks in the home like:

• Kitchen fires from the unattended cooking process
• Overheating electronic or electrical appliances
• Faulty electrical wiring
• Overloading electrical systems
• Candles
• Other open flames like smoking, matches, and lighters
• Flammable liquids
• Aerosols
• Barbeques

Preparing for fire starts with investing in proper equipment. Important fire safety products for your home include a fire escape ladder, fire blankets, fire extinguisher smoke detectors, carbon monoxide alarms, etc. Let us know about this equipment in detail:

• Smoke Alarms

Smoke detectors are one of the most important items of your fire safety kit. In case of any fire emergencies, these alarms give an early warning and alert people before the fire turns into a catastrophic disaster. Even if you are sound asleep, it will alert you with its 85 decibels loud and continuous alarm noise.

We would also suggest that you should maintain the basic battery operations of your alarm and keep testing your smoke alarms regularly. These alarms are powerful and cost-effective devices that can save your life and property by their evolutionary instincts of recognizing fire danger.

• Fire Extinguishers

A fire extinguisher is the perfect fire safety product for dousing a small fire before it becomes uncontrollable. For your house, you must have at least a 1kg or 2kg dry powder or 2l foam fire extinguisher. This will make sure you can achieve multipurpose coverage and versatility. Also, try to install them in places where you can easily reach out for them before the fire engulfs your setting.

Types of Fire Extinguishers

• Foam fire extinguishers
• Water fire extinguishers
• Dry Powder fire extinguishers
• Carbon dioxide fire extinguishers
• Wet Chemical fire extinguishers

Water-Fire Extinguisher Types

• Water spray
• Water jet
• Water mist

• Fire Blankets

These are usually found near kitchens as they are useful to put off cooking fires and oil fires. It is a cost-effective fire safety product that one can use to wrap around people if their clothes catch fire. It is a simple aid and is ideal for someone who does not know how to use a fire extinguisher.

• Sprinklers

If you are under the impression that having only smoke alarms installed will be enough for maintaining the safety of your home, then let me tell you that you are wrong. Even when you wake up with the smoke alarm's alert, you would still need seconds to get out of the building in any case of an emergency, right? And any fire can double the size within a couple of minutes. But a singular sprinkler can prevent the highest fires from leaving the room and spreading to other rooms. This equipment can prevent the fire from escalating.

Types of Sprinklers

-Dry Sprinkler System

-Wet Sprinkler System

-Deluge Sprinkler System

-Pre-action Sprinkler System

• Fire Reel Hose Cabinet

The fire reel hose cabinet is basically a steel box placed in public areas and buildings. It is useful for storing the required fire equipment. It protects the fire hose rack assembly, fire hose reel, and fire extinguisher against theft. With a good quality steel and small occupation, the fire cabinet can be in any flat.

• Fire Retardant Paint

Products like fire-retardant paint can be useful in stopping the fire from spreading. These devices are primarily helpful in kitchens and basements where fire retardant paints can protect substrates from burning, melting, and weakening in the fire. This will increase evacuation time and hold off structural collapse.

Following are some tips to maintain safety by preventing fire situations:

• Take care while cooking
• Create an escape route through the nearest doors and windows
• Check if the flames are off before you leave the kitchen
• Do not overload sockets
• Place cigarettes properly
• Use candles carefully
• Store combustible materials and flammable liquids properly
• Have a fire extinguisher
• Use heaters appropriately
• Fit a fire alarm, and don't forget to test it regularly

Apart from these tips and types of equipment, we also believe that when a fire occurs, a well-thought-out evacuation plan with smart fire prevention solutions/equipment are essential. Make sure every member of your home has proper knowledge on how, when, and where to use the safety equipment.

Paul Clifford is the Owner & CEO of Medguard. He aims to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure of the country by supplying medical devices and consumable products of top-notch quality.