Ways to Reduce Your House Fire Risk | SERVPRO of Oak Lawn

11/20/2023 (Permalink)

Is your home left with the devastating aftermath of a fire? Call SERVPRO of Oak Lawn immediately. We are Here to Help®.

We all love our homes and take pride in the space we have created for our families. While we are busy getting through our days and managing everyone’s schedules, it can be easy to overlook important homeownership tasks like reducing your risk of suffering a house fire. 

House fires are almost always unexpected situations, but unfortunately, most of them could have been prevented. By knowing what causes house fires, you can take steps to reduce your risk every single day. Read on to learn how to stay safe!

Your Kitchen and Cooking

The vast majority of house fires start in the kitchen—and with good reason. All of the frying, baking, broiling and boiling that we do uses heat and flame, which directly increases your house fire risk whenever your oven or burners are on.  

Stay close by whenever you are cooking, and try to reduce the number of flammable materials near your stove. Even just one kitchen towel placed too close to the burner can ignite and cause a quickly intensifying situation.

If you grill often, be sure to extend these same principles outside, while also ensuring your equipment is safe to use. If you have a charcoal grill, inspect it before each use to look for dents or cracks in the drum and lid, and be sure the vents can easily slide into place if you need to snuff out a fire quickly. 

Propane grills should also be checked for dents, and be sure the gas lines and connections are tight and not leaking. A single leaking tank can become a huge fire risk. 

Electrical Safety and Candles

Electrical fires are also a serious risk in homes. With all of the electronics and screens at our disposal nowadays, it can be easy to leave too many things plugged into one outlet. 

Only have one cord plugged into each outlet, and do not plug extension cords into another extension cords. This is called daisy-chaining and can easily overwhelm your outlets. 

Candles are a great way to make any home cozier, but they can also be dangerous in the right circumstance. Keep them out of reach for little hands and pets, and never leave a room when a candle has been lit. A single forgotten candle can quickly burn too hot and high, catching anything around it on fire in seconds.  

Where Our Team Comes Into Play

Even if you do everything right to safeguard your home against fire disasters, the unexpected can happen at any time and you could be left with significant fire damage. Call us as soon as the flames are out so we can start on your recovery plan.

We are here 24/7 to respond to your call and we will arrive at your door right away to start cleaning, removing debris, and sanitizing your space. Once your space is prepped and ready to be rebuilt, we will deodorize it and start on your repairs. We can handle everything from minor fire damage repairs to full reconstructions of rooms or sections of your home. 

SERVPRO of Oak Lawn can help you recover faster after a house fire. Call us right away.