A message from the Rockville Centre Fire Chief

On Oct. 9, the Rockville Centre Fire Department hosted a great fire prevention community awareness event at our 103 Maple Ave. firehouse, to celebrate Fire Prevention month. The event was well attended by our residents, who learned some great tips about fire safety, but as we near the holiday season, we need to keep in mind that fire safety is a year round job!

As we head into the heating season it‘s even more important to pay close attention to preventing home fires. For example, a common cause of fires in November can be tracked to faulty boilers and furnaces. When we start them after having them dormant throughout the summer any problems they might have become apparent. Make sure to have yours serviced before the season begins in earnest. While this may seem intuitive, what I’ve found in almost three decades of firefighting is that the basics of fire prevention and safety are put on the back burner (pun intended) while we rush about our daily routines. Thinking about fire safety when you smell smoke in the middle of the night is way too late. Here’s what you should think about and act on:

Make sure you have enough well-placed smoke/heat detectors to alert everyone in your home of a potential fire at the earliest possible moment. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends an alarm in each bedroom, in hallways outside bedrooms and on all levels of the house. Make sure one is also in the basement, not far from your furnace! Shockingly, most homes only have one detector! More than 60 percent of fatalities in residential fires, which occur primarily between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when families are sleeping, occur in residences with either no alarms, or inoperable ones. According to the NFPA, if all homes had enough working smoke alarms, the rate of home fire fatalities could be cut by more than 50 percent. Take inventory of your smoke alarms, check or change their batteries and go out and buy enough alarms to cover the whole house. They’re the cheapest life insurance I know of!

Plan an escape route from your home in case of a fire, preferably two, and rehearse them. Get serious about talking all of your family members through them. Do it right now! Having a fire extinguisher handy may also be of help, and it just might give you a few extra seconds to escape, but that’s not nearly enough time if you haven’t already mapped out how you will quickly get out of a hot, smoky and toxic working fire. Close doors behind you so the fire doesn’t spread as quickly and so it is not fed oxygen that actually helps it burn hotter and faster.

Once you’re out of the building, DON’T GO BACK IN! Dozens of people die each year returning to a house on fire to rescue possessions that could be replaced, or, valiantly but unsuccessfully rescuing a pet. Heat, smoke and toxic gasses can overcome even the healthiest among us. Instead, waste no time making sure someone has called 911 and leave the rescue to the trained professionals who arrive on scene.

Have a set meeting place for your family, and be sure to give arriving firefighters the best information about who may still be in the house and the layout of its interior.

There are many more tips to share to prevent home fires throughout the fall and into the winter months. Stay tuned for more as we head into the Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas and New Year’s season when serious cooking, candle and fireplace fires tend to

crop up.

John Busching is chief of the 350-member Rockville Centre Fire Department, the largest volunteer department in New York state. The department provides Rockville Centre residents with fire, rescue and emergency medical services 365 days a year.