Are you concerned about fire accidents in your basement? Here are a few fire preventive tips!
Fire outbreaks are deadly and can burn any place to the ground. You may think that your basement is more prone to water damage than it is to fire outbreaks, then you may be mistaken. Basements can cause fire accidents for several reasons.
People often store electrical appliances, old furniture, and heavy heat-generating machinery in their basements. Moreover, basements are also the go-to place for doing laundry, which requires an electrical connection. Therefore, you need to make your basement safe from fire hazards.
Take a look at the few tips and steps that you can take to make your basement safer:
Install a smoke alarm
The first preventive measure needs to be the installation of a smoke alarm. Make sure you test your smoke alarm regularly, so that it stays functional. Clean the detectors frequently as well, so that dust doesn’t build up. Moreover, connect your basement smoke alarm to the other alarms in your home, so they all sound at the same time, and you don’t miss the warnings.
Install a carbon monoxide alarm
CO is an extremely toxic gas and can lead to severe health issues. It would be best if you install a Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarm along with a smoke alarm. This preventive measure is especially important for basements that contain heating equipment that uses oil, gas, or wood as fuel.
Keep the flammable object away from heat
Basements are used for storing all sorts of flammable objects like paper, debris, wood, textiles, etc., and heating equipment like a stove, furnace, heater, oil burner, etc. If your basement has a similar case, then you need to keep all flammable material at least 3 feet away from heating equipment and machinery.
Moreover, make sure that the gas furnaces with burner access doors and gas water heaters are properly closed so that flame roll-out can be prevented.
Plug appliances into sockets
To prevent fire accidents from taking place in your basement, it’s important to keep major appliances like washing machines and dryers plugged into wall sockets. If you use an extension cord to power multiple appliances, make sure you don’t overload it as it can lead to fire outbreaks.
Equip your basement with AFCIs
The arc-fault circuit interrupters or AFCIs are devices that prevent fire outbreaks in electrical switches by turning off the circuit when an unintentional discharge of electricity takes place within the circuit.
Maintain your washing machine and dryer
Make sure you maintain your washing machine and its dryer regularly by cleaning the filters after removing your laundry after each use. By maintaining your regularly used appliances in the basement, you can minimize the risk of fire hazards significantly.
