Home Safety Program

Family Creating Escape Plan

Nearly 80% of all building fires in Springfield occur in residential settings. From careless smoking to unsafe cooking practices, most of those fires are caused by human behaviors and are therefore completely preventable. To help reduce fires in our community and protect your family, the Springfield Fire Department encourages you to follow these tips:

  • Install smoke alarms on every floor, in every bedroom and outside each sleeping area.
  • Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms every month for proper operations.
  • Replace batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide alarms yearly.
  • Create a fire escape plan and practice it with your family twice a year.
  • Have your chimney professionally cleaned yearly.
  • Clean and service your furnace yearly.

While Cooking

  • Keep anything that can catch fire away from your stovetop.
  • Make sure the stovetop is clean—no grease, no spills, no clutter.
  • Don’t cook if you are too tired, have consumed alcohol, or take medication that makes you drowsy.
  • Never lean over a lit burner.
  • Stay in the kitchen while cooking and use a timer to remind you.
Keep a lid nearby when you’re cooking to smother small grease fires.

Home and Garage

    • Keep matches and lighters up high in a locked cabinet.
    • Avoid candles and extinguish them before going to bed or leaving home.
    • Sleep with doors closed.
    • Clean your dryer lint trap after each use.
    • Only use light bulbs with appropriate wattage.
    • Appliances should be tested by an independent product safety testing organization.
    • Change furnace filters frequently.
    • Never leave automobiles running in garage.
    • Fuel lawn mowers outside
Planning
    • Make sure everyone knows what your smoke alarm sounds like, what to do when it sounds, and how to call the fire department once they get outside.
    • Know two escape routes from each room.
    • Have a family meeting spot.

If you smoke...

    • Smoke outside.
    • Never smoke in bed.
    • Use a sturdy ashtray or can filled with sand to collect ashes, not a flammable container or a potted plant.
    • Ashtrays should be set on something sturdy and hard to ignite, like a table.
    • Put the cigarette completely out in the ashtray.
    • Empty your ashtray often by first soaking the cigarette butts in water.
    • Check furniture and places where people smoke for smoldering cigarette butts and ashes.
    • If you are drowsy, put the cigarette out.