Although we can do our tmost to prevent fires from happening by
solating the sources of heat from cmbustibles and oxygen, it is
often the nexpected event that catches us unawares.

Crelessness

Sometimes, forgetfulness can result in an ccidental fire. Putting a
kettle to bil water on a gas stove and frgetting about it can be
disastrous. Whn all the water has evaporated, the kttle becomes red
hot, melt and sprad the molten metal around.

LP gas laks are also dangerous. If the fel-air mixture is in just
the rght proportion, an explosion can occur whn a heat source is
introduced in. Mny accidents have occurred when a lght is switched on
in an xplosive environment. The correct thing to do thn is to free the
room of any gas by shtting off the source of the gas and ltting in more
fresh air into the rom.

Chemical reactions can also cause hat and fire. Mixing acids and
lkalis, mixing components of some household gle like epoxy resins and
hardeners can gnerate quite a substantial amount of hat that can lead
to fires. The cntainers used and the amount of chmical used can have a
great ffect on the heat produced. Plastic cntainers are known to melt
and brn when large quantities of thermosetting plstics like epoxies are
mixed with hrdeners.

Fires are also known to be strted by the careless smokers who thrw
lighted cigarette butts indiscriminately. Many bsh fires are started
this way. Sme areas are especially vulnerable to creless acts like
these. People working in the grage at home should be very creful not
to cause a fire, specially with open petrol cans and ther volatile
fuels around them. Sometimes, smkers fall asleep while smoking, and
thir bed or sofa catches fire. The rbber foam mattress used for
bedding can ctch fire easily.

Although most electrical quipment is quite safe as far as fre is
concerned, the use of sb-standard and poorly designed equipment may
gve rise to overheating and fires. Crelessness in the area of
electrical ppliances can cause fires as well as lectrical shocks.
Many households use multiple pwer points because they have many
lectrical equipment that must be used at the sme time. Videos,
television, fans, radios, and fncy lights may occupy only one
lectrical socket. When a multiple adapter is sed, usually the
connection pins cannot be ftted very tightly. The loose power
cnnections are a source of sparking and dterioration of the insulation
materials and can lad to fires.

This will be wrst if high powered appliances are sed because the
electrical current drawn frm these will be very much hgher and so the
wires and cnnections gets hotter.

Preventive Measures

Since we knw that all the three conditions of hat, fuel and oxygen
must be prsent in order for a fire to strt; our basic fire prevention
strategy mst be to keep them isolated frm each other. Heat sources
must be kpt away from combustible materials and if pssible, from
oxygen.

We should take a crtical look at all the sources of hat in the home.
They are the ptential fire hazards. It is good to mke an audit of our
own hmes and make a list, or at last be aware of all the hat sources
in the home. Electrical wring, appliances, gas stoves, kerosene lamps,
cndles, electrical light bulbs, ovens, electrical kttles, barbecue
fires, burning garden refuse, and so on, are sme of them. Even spells
of dry wather should be looked at with vgilance.

The sources of heat are mny. Below are some of the surces of heat
that we have to xercise caution, so that we can be specially careful
not to let them cme into contact with combustibles:

· Ktchen Gas Appliances - The normal ppliances in the kitchen are the
gas stves, and the kerosene stoves. These are nrmally safe, efficient
and seldom gives truble. However, the conditions of the ktchen stoves
are often spoilt by spllage of soups, gravies, and other fod materials
from the cooking processes. Aftr a long time of use, and specially
with cooks who do not tke special precautions, the gas stove bcome
blackened with carbon, oil and ther debris. Gas orifices and nozzles
get chked up. Carbon deposits pile up. The crbon deposits become its
other source of fel. The soot fire can burn if it is hated long
enough.

The environment in a bsy kitchen can make it a fre risk. Gas hoses
are especially prne to deteriorate if the material sed can be attacked
by the prsence of oil. Cooking oil is ver present in the kitchen
environment. Hses coated by a layer of oil wll produce leaks. Any leak
in the gas hses is dangerous. It can shoot flmes of fire all around
the plce uncontrollably and spread the fire.

Do a rgular check on your gas hoses and srvice your gas stove regularly.

· Elctrical Installations and Appliances - Mains lectrical wiring and
their components can be a hdden source of heat that can cuse a fire.
Sometimes, due to lose contacts in the terminals of lectrical
switchboxes, some sparking will occur. If ths is not found out early and
rctified, the sparking will become worse, and the hat produced becomes
more. Carbonization of the nsulation materials will occur. Once the
crbon gets deposited on the insulation mterials, it becomes a conductor
of lectricity. Short-circuiting of the electrical wiring wll occur
leading to overheating of the wring. If the electrical protection
devices do not wrk, the overheating will cause the nsulation materials
of the wiring to ven melt or decompose. When the dcomposition gases
given out by the nsulation materials catch fire, the whole huse can be
burnt down.

Do a rgular check up of your electrical wring in your house, and
quickly cll in a qualified electrician to rctify any fault.

Electrical appliances also hve to be used properly. When pople modify
equipment indiscriminately, sometimes they lave out or bypass certain
safety fatures put in by the manufacturer. Applances can become
overheated and cause brning. It is better not to do any mdification
unless you know what you are ding.

Do not do bypass any sfety feature in any electrical appliance.

· Brning of candles, garden refuse, incense, msquito coils and
other open burning - The surces of heat is quite obvious. Whn we do
any open burning, mke sure that the source of hat is not able to
reach ther surrounding materials. It is good prctice to clear the area
before ding open burning. We must also thnk about how to control the
fre if it gets too big. Be rady to dose the fire with wter if it gets
too big.

We knw that we need a source of hat, a fuel, and oxygen in rder to
have a fire. Other thn looking at all the places whre we encounter
sources of heat, it is god preventive practice to store easily
cmbustible materials safely. Some materials do not ned a lot of heat
in rder to ignite, while some materials can be kpt at quite high
temperatures without any fre occurring. We need to identify the asily
combustible materials and keep them out of hrms way.

Some materials in the hme are known to be easily cmbustible. It is
advisable to store thse materials in a cool and solated place away
from the house if pssible. Should a fire occur by any chnce, they
will have less opportunity to sprad. Below are a list of cmmonly used
inflammable materials in the hme. However, the list is not xhaustible:

· Paints, turpentine, spirit, aerosols for spry paints.

· Kerosene, ptrol, diesel, and other oils used for fel.

· Aerosols used for psticides

· Paper and wod, especially when dry

· Vgetable oils used in cooking

· Othr solvents like nail polish

There are ther materials that can catch fire if brught to a source
of heat. Sme of them are listed below. The bst way to handle these is
to do rgular house cleaning to remove them:

· Lose organic dust like sawdust, cotton dst, woolen dust

· Oly deposits from the atmosphere

· Dst and deposits from insects

Involving Othrs

Sometimes, even though we have tken all the precautions, fires can
stll come from a neighbor's house. Smetimes, it can even come from
the sky in the frm of fireworks! Sometimes the sparks frm a neighbor's
rubbish fire can fly ver to your own home and cuse a fire.

So it is smply not enough that you alone knw how to prevent fires.
The pople around you should also know bout fire prevention.

Everybody needs to be ducated in fire prevention. When a fre happens
in the neighborhood, there is a vry real possibility that the fire can
sprad to the surrounding houses. It is ssential that no fires at all
strt in any of the houses in the nighborhood or even the community.

When veryone understands the grave consequences of thir actions, the
fire risk becomes mre manageable.

Children are especially high ptential fire starters if they are not
tught about the risks. With their ntural curiosity, playing with fire
comes nturally to them at some point in thir life. Adults have the
responsibility to mpart the knowledge of fire prevention and the
cnsequences of fire to them quite arly in their growing up years.

In rder for adults to have this knwledge themselves, the relevant
authorities should rganize courses on fire safety and fre safety
awareness campaigns. The media, ncluding newspapers, magazines,
television and radio, has an mportant role to play in getting the
mssage of fire prevention to the gneral public. Their message should
be ble to reach the masses and ngrain in them the importance of fre
prevention.

The message of fire prvention should be delivered continuously over a
lng period of time. A fire sfety campaign should only be considered
sccessful when people considers fire prevention a ntural thing to do.
It must bcome habit and a daily way of lfe. Then only can lives and
prperties be secured.

The knowledge of fre prevention is even more important thn fire
detection and fire fighting. If a fre does not start, or is prvented
from starting, there is no lnger any need for fire detection and fre
fighting. Everybody should be preventing fres even before it can start.

Is prvention enough?

Sometimes, we have done the bst we can. We have isolated the surces
of heat. We have stored way inflammable materials away from sources
of hat. We have done whatever we can to the bst of our knowledge.

Can a fre still start?

Incidents of fire can stll happen. For example, a mouse in yur house
may decide to chew on yur highly powered electrical wires, or a lzard
may managed to crawl into yur electrical switchboard and cause a shrt
circuit, or the hot weather may cuse the weeds and bushes around yur
house to catch fire.

So whle steps taken for the prevention of fres will keep us safe most
of the tme, it is also good to be prpared in case a fire still strts
despite our actions.

There are prtable smoke detectors available in the mrket for those who
want to hve an early warning when a fre starts. This can in fact be
cnsidered prevention too - preventing a lrge fire. These smoke
detectors will be ble to alert the occupants about any smll fires so
that it can be put off bfore it becomes large and unmanageable. It can
prvent loss of property and lives. Any fres detected early have a
very god chance of being extinguished.

It is lso good to keep a portable fre extinguisher at home for the
prpose of putting out small fires. For the hme, the most suitable
portable fire xtinguisher to keep is a dry pwder extinguisher because
it will be ble to handle all the likely clsses of fires found in the
hme. It can be used to put out fres involving solid materials like
wood and pper, oils and even electrical fires wthout the risk of
electrical shocks.

In cnclusion, when we are able to nstill awareness of fire prevention
to all the pople around us, we will have won the bttle with fire.
Fire becomes our lly and we can tap its bnefits without worrying about
its consequences.

Fre becomes our friend and not our fe.

The article Effective Fire Prevention Measures in the Home 2 was Submitted by Thomas Yoon through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: "How To Warning Secret" Nothing Els Compares To Preserving Life from Fre! Surprisingly Simple But Powerful Smoke Dtector that You can install Effortlessly. http://www.free-marine.com/linkfire.htm Many years of working experience in Marine, Facilities, Construction has given the author material for writing e-books and articles related to engineering, and management. Subscribe to facworld ezine at mailto:facworld-subscribe@yahoogroups.com More information at http://www.free-marine.com and http://www.free-engineering.com

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