October is Fire Safety Month, with Fire Prevention Week beginning Sunday, October 6th and going through Saturday, October 12th. Since 1922, the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) has run an annual campaign to help educate the public on fire safety in an effort to reduce the number of deaths caused by fire.

This year’s campaign is “Not Every Hero Wears A Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape!” The message behind this year’s campaign is a hero can be someone who takes simple steps to keep themselves and others safe from fire. As Benjamin Franklin (the organizer of the first volunteer fire company in America) famously said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” fire safety is the one place you don’t want to fail in your preparations. Don’t wait, make a plan today! This year’s campaign is designed to raise awareness of your surroundings, to emphasize the point that you may have as little as two minutes to safely escape from a fire. Although the number of house fires has been steadily declining, the number of deaths attributed to fires has continued to increase. This steady increase in fire fatalities illustrates the need for a strong and continuous message about Planning and Practicing how to escape a fire.

Be a hero and sit down and review your fire escape plans with office workers and family members. If you do not have a plan you should create one. Take the time to inspect your fire extinguishers, fire alarms, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide alarms to make sure that they are in good working order and batteries should be replaced if necessary. Additionally, as the weather gets cooler this time of year it’s time to turn on your heating systems. Make sure HVAC and other heating systems have been inspected/serviced and all exhaust vents are free of any blockage. We have included some great tools from the NFPA below:

• Fire Safety Planning
• Home Escape Plan
• Every Second Counts!