Holiday Fire Safety

Fire tragedies continue to be front and center here in Maine, and we are finding
more and more people asking what more can be done. While most people think
that newer homes are safer, the evidence shows otherwise. Here is a short video
from the news in Texas that helps put the modern fire problem into perspective:
new-homes-burn-hotter-faster.
    It’s important to note that while we routinely see older houses burning in the news, this is in large part because there are still far more “older homes” than new ones. While older homes themselves contain electrical and heating equipment that might be more likely to cause fire than newer safer equipment, the statistics show that fires will more often (83% of the time) be caused by some sort of human activity: cooking, smoking, candles, etc. This means the age of the house is only a factor in 17% of residential fires. Here in Rockland we always seem to have at least one unfortunate fire incident every holiday season. Practice and promote fire safety year-round: ensure your smoke detectors have fresh batteries, have a plan of escape that your whole family knows, close as many doors as you can to minimize fire spread, do not leave your kitchen stove unattended.