The American Red Cross offers the following recommendations to prevent fires:

Get trained!

Pay attention to food cooking on the stove.

Turn off space heaters when you leave the room or go to sleep.

If any resident smokes, make sure they put water on any butts or ashes before throwing them away.

Keep matches and lighters out of sight and reach of kids.

Make sure electrical cords are in good condition, with no frayed or cracked areas.

Keep any fuel or liquid that can catch on fire (i.e. gasoline propane or kerosene) in a safe container outside your home, in a garage or shed.

Don’t let kids play with or near candles. Keep hair and loose clothing away from candles.

If the power goes out, use flashlights and lights that use batteries rather than candles. Make sure to have extra batteries on hand.

Escaping a Fire

Keep bedroom doors shut while sleeping. If you think there is a fire, feel the door and knob for heat before opening.

Have an escape route for each area of the home and a designated meeting place outside.

Draw a map—one that's easy for all members of the family and visitors to understand.

When planning for a family with young children, be sure to teach them not to hide from fire or smoke and to go to firefighters who are there to help them.

All children should be familiar with the ideas of "crawling underneath the smoke" to escape a fire. "Stop, drop and roll" is another safety principle that must be ingrained into children's minds.

Multi-storied buildings are of special concern. Ensure that everyone is familiar with how to use an escape ladder if necessary.

Make sure every sleeping room has two means of escape in the event of a fire. Windows provide a secondary means of escape. Ensure they are in proper working order, are not painted shut, and guards are able to be disengaged in case of fire and escape is necessary through that window.

Everyone must understand that once you escape, you must never reenter a burning building—no matter what you might have left behind.

Call emergency responders (911) from a neighbor's house.

Make sure to practice your escape plan periodically. It will be easier to remember in case of an emergency.

Young children should know their street address and last name (and, of course, how to dial 911).

After you've planned for the family, don't forget the pets. Alert firefighters about your pets. Don't rely on window or door decals to alert firefighters—such decals are often found to be outdated. In the event your pet suffers from smoke inhalation, rush the animal to the vet.

Facts

All disaster assistance from the Red Cross is free.

80 percent of all fire deaths occur in the home (U.S. Fire Administration)

The leading cause of fire deaths is careless smoking (U.S. Fire Administration)

Having a working smoke detector more than doubles one’s chances of surviving a fire (U.S. Fire Administration)

3,675 people died in fires in the United States in 2005 – one person every 143 minutes. While the number of fires increased in 2005 over 2004, the number of deaths decreased 5.8 percent. (National Fire Protection Association).

In 2005, 106 firefighters died in the line of duty in the United States – down from 117 in 2004 (U.S. Fire Administration)

Adults 65 and older are more than twice as likely to die in fires as the overall population. (U.S. Fire Administration study)

People born in 2003 have a 1-in-1,100 lifetime odds of dying due to exposure to smoke, fire or flame. Odds in any given year are 1:86,000. (National Safety Council)