House fires are more common than many may realize in the U.S., and they claim the lives of thousands each year. Alarmingly, most deaths related to house fires occur when one crucial appliance isn't working.
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Fire Cash Buyer shared statistics with WOC around house fires. Annually, across over 358,300 residential fires, approximately 2,620 Americans will be killed. Although house fires can erupt suddenly and spread rapidly, there is one appliance that we apparently need to give more credit.
According to their statistics, three of five house fire deaths occur in properties without working fire detectors.
I've always known that they're important, but had no idea how lethal house fire cases are without them working.
It may seem like an obvious statistic and paints a pretty simple picture. I do know, however, that ignoring and gutting smoke alarms is a common practice. When they run low on batteries, they start to beep, which is ear-splitting and incredibly annoying.
However, instead of removing the depleted batteries and leaving the smoke detectors empty for convenience, please make sure to replace them. It sounds improbable, but having working smoke alarms may save your life.
If 60% of house fire deaths happen in places with working smoke alarms, then I'm no longer going to take my chances.
Make Sure To Have Working Smoke Detectors, Especially In The Kitchen
Other statistics shared with us also highlight other factors we need to be especially aware of.
According to their stats, half of all house fires start from the kitchen. Make sure to prioritize having working smoke detectors in the kitchen, and make especially sure that your appliances don't pose any fire hazards. Naturally, this statistic has likely arisen through neglect when cooking food, so make sure you're attentive while preparing meals.
Additionally, the amount of horror headlines we've published about children dying due to fires started by space heaters is harrowing. Please, make sure your heating appliances aren't neglected for long and have enough space around them in case of malfunction.
One last stat I'd like to share is that 17% of house fires are caused by electrical faults. Ignoring incidents in the kitchen, this is a pretty big portion of house fires. Make sure your outlets aren't overloaded and that all wires are secured and look healthy.
Keeping these things in mind and being on top of this will ensure that your home and family don't become statistics in the next report. Please be careful, and stay safe.
