- Do not leave candles, incense or cooking unattended.
- “Keep an eye on what you fry.” The stove and/or oven should be kept clean of grease and spilt food. In the event of a fire while cooking, it is recommended to cover the flames with a metal lid (or a baking sheet).
- Keep stairwells clear of obstructions. Occasionally walk your exit route(s) and report any obstructions to the building owner.
- Refuse should not be allowed to accumulate inside the apartments, hallways and directly against the outside walls and entrance/exit doors.
- Do not prop open stairwell doors or other fire doors. These doors are components of the passive fire protection system.
- Do not tamper with/disable smoke detectors. According to NFPA, between 2012-2016 “Almost three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no smoke alarms that were working
- Do not hang items from sprinkler heads or fire extinguishers. These are components of the active fire protection system.
- All extension cords and power strips must be tested and approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). UL testing makes sure that wire sizes are correct, devices can handle the amount of current listed.
- Only low wattage electronic devices (computers, televisions, stereo, game consoles, etc.) should be plugged into a power strip.
- The power strips should be plugged directly into a wall outlet without an extension cord or multiple power strips connected together.
- If a space heater must be used, then it should have an overtemperature and tip-over shutdown safety devices, be plugged directly into wall outlet and all combustible material must be at kept at least 3 ft. away.
- Properly dispose of smoking materials. According to NFPA, between 2012-2016 “5% of the reported home structure fires started by smoking materials.”