Fire Safety !

Winter delivered Sydney's coldest day of the year this week and our fire brigade suburban stations braced for a peak in call outs !   Statistically, sixty percent of all house fires occur between the months of June and September.

We have a need to keep warm and cold weather heavily influences the food we prepare.  Fire investigators examine the aftermath of every fire and a familiar pattern of causes emerges.  Of the 175 house fires in Sydney this month, 83 started in the kitchen.

The glaring culprit is food cooked on the stove top - and the common reason for the fire is the person cooking leaving that task unattended.  In some cases, perhaps attention is diverted away by an incoming phone call or the need to attend to another distraction within the house. Frying food risks a flashover from over heating or "burning dry "and igniting and that can set alight to the oil and grease trapped in the range hood - and quickly consume the cupboards.

Food cooked in the oven and left forgotten rarely ignites.   It causes dense smoke damage and can be a danger to the health of residents, but in most cases it is confined to the stove and is so contained. The primary cause of house fires is the stove top - and how the resident responds to a flareup. It is always an increase in danger to treat an oil or fat fire with water.  Ideally, applying a fire blanket or even a wooden cutting board to cover and cut off the air supply will extinguish the flame.

On average, every year over five hundred Sydney residents suffer injury in house fires - and last year twenty-one lost their lives to that danger.  Other common causes were old or damaged electric blankets and grossly overloaded power boards used to supplement inadequate electrical wall sockets.
The golden rule with heating appliances is to be sure that there is at least a one metre gap between them and any flammable object - curtains and lounge chairs.

Candles certainly deliver a romantic atmosphere to a room but should never be left unattended.  A sudden gust of wind can cause curtains to billow or the movement of the residents dog or cat may make the candle holder  topple.   Never retire to bed, leaving candles lit.

A century ago open fires were the main means of heating in most homes but that is now rare.  Firewood is scarce and very expensive and most fireplaces have been replaced with combustion heaters - which require less fuel and safely contain the flame.   Unfortunately, every winter we have a few cases where in desperation to keep warm someone brings a BBQ or an ornamental fire pit into the house - and suffers death from carbon monoxide poisoning.

What is entirely safe out in the open air can be totally deadly in the confines of a room.  Even a gas BBQ lit indoors consumes oxygen in the air and replaces it with carbon monoxide.  This odourless gas causes the user to lose consciousness - and death quickly follows.   Any sort of combustion needs a chimney to vent the gas produced.

We are now at the peak of the fire season.  A very good reason to check that you have a smoke alarm - and it is working !    At least an early warning may allow you to escape the fire and save a life - and the fire brigade will do its best to limit the property damage !