Safety Planning and Risk Prevention

The Importance of Safety Planning and Risk Prevention

Even though fire is preventable, it is responsible for more American deaths than all natural disasters combined. There are several precautionary actions you can take to prevent a fire in your home and planning steps you can take to increase your safety in case a fire dose occur. In this section, we invite you to learn more at ready.gov

Know the Risks

  • Fires that start in the kitchen from cooking are the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries.
  • Unattended cooking, rather than mechanical failure or malfunction, often starts cooking fires. 
  • As many as two-thirds of fires caused by heating your home are started by portable or fixed space heaters. 
  • If you have at least one working smoke alarm you can reduce your chance of dying in a house fire by 45 percent.
  • Smoking materials like smoldering cigarettes and ashtrays are still the leading cause of fatal fires in the United States. 
  • Children playing with fire account for 400 deaths, 3000 injuries, and $280 million in property loss or damage every year.

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