FIRE ESCAPE LADDER - HOME SAFETY

Fires can strike anywhere at any time.  In addition to installing smoke detectors in your home, you should have fire extinguishers stored in key areas like the kitchen, work shop and garage.  It is good practice to walk your family through a fire drill so they know exactly what to do if there is one. 

Make sure children know where the family will reunite if they have to leave the house in the event of a fire.

Here are some Home Fire Safety Tips to help minimize the risk of fire in your home:

• Assign a special closet for combustible materials and dangerous tools that you don’t want your children to touch.  Locking the door and putting a heat detector inside is also a good idea.
  
  
• Don’t overload electrical circuits with too many appliances. 
  
  
• Don’t run extension cords under rugs or carpets because the cords can wear easily and may short out causing a fire.
  
  
• Tape electrical cords to the walls, floors or baseboards instead of using nails or staples.
• Replace frayed electrical cords.
  
  
• Keep combustibles away from the furnace.
  
  
• Fire departments supply stickers that can be placed in a window to alert firefighters to the presence of a child or physically challenged person in the home.
  
  
• Call an electrician to examine an outlet or switch that is unusually warm or hot to the touch.
  
  
• Ceiling fixtures and recessed lights trap heat and that can lead to fire.  Therefore, don’t use a high wattage bulb.  Use one that is 60 watts or fewer.
  
  
• Always extinguish fire in a fireplace or wood stove before leaving the house or going to bed.
  
  
• Unplug your hair dryer or any other small appliance in the bathroom when not in use.
  
  
• An electric blanket should never be tucked in at the sides as that may cause overheating and subsequently fire.
  
  
• Always turn a heating pad off before going to sleep.  It can cause burns in your home even at a low setting.
  
  
• If you live or work in a high-rise building, locate the fire exits on your floor.  If the fire alarm does sound, remember to never use the elevator and go directly to the stairs.
  
  
• If you live in a 2 story home and have upstairs bedrooms, make sure you have a portable safety ladder under the bed in case of emergency so you can get out from the upstairs windows or balcony in the event the stairs are blocked in a fire.
  
  
• Smoke detectors won’t prevent a fire, but they save lives by alerting you to smoke.  Place one in the hallway near each separate sleeping area.  Check the batteries twice a year.  If you do this when daylight savings time begins in April and ends in October, it will help you to remember.

...more fire safety ladders

Having these portable fire safety ladders upstairs in addition to having working smoke detectors can go along way toward peace of mind in the home and also save lives and limbs in an emergency.

2-story 13 foot fire escape ladder:

or the longer 3-story 25 foot fire escape ladder here:

*Note that these fire safety ladders are for "one use" only, so they are not for playing with or testing them out since they are prefolded so they come apart without tangling on their first use.

They are sturdy and have metal rungs with stand-offs that keep them held against the wall to make it easy to climb down. Hopefully you will never need to use it, but it is peace of mind to know it is there for that one use just in case.