Exterior Fire Prevention: Your Ultimate Resource Guide

Top tips for home fire prevention:

An ounce of prevention they say… and it is true. While that is in reference to heath, prevention of any sort, is worth its weight in gold when it comes to protecting yourself, your family and your home. There is no exception to this rule in any case and especially when it comes to safety and preventive action with fire risk and security.

While it is no steadfast guarantee that any preventative action will provide 100% safeguard, any action you take to guard against major damage is a step much closer to being in the clear all together. Home fires can occur in an instant and many details or variables may not be in a person's control, but many details and actions will be and will insulate potential damage to a home should a fire pass near or around your home.

• Prevention: It is crucial to safeguard against the potential threat of a fire outbreak. Being aware and responsible for your home's exterior surroundings. Keeping dead and dry brush and plants cut back and/or fully removed, especially after the summer months when the lack of rain and moisture in the environment is at its lowest. If your property has large trees and specifically palm trees, make sure they are cut back and maintained annually. Hanging, dead palm fronds will ignite like a piece of thin paper and oftentimes those dead branches are located next to or right over a home or roof.
• Prevention: Always use extreme caution when storing flammable materials outdoors or in a shed. It is imperative that the storage location be well ventilated and away from the home but they must also be removed from any ignition source or removed from any equipment that may initiate a spark. Storage within a garage is a common practice however dangers near automobiles can become very high risk with possible ignition sources. These materials should always be disposed of regularly and safely moved out and away from your home.
• Prevention: Simply learn how to use a fire extinguisher and keep several strategically placed and easily accessible around the exterior of your home. This will come in handy and will put out a fire rapidly and with control. Maintaining calm, decisive action is important and knowing how to use a fire extinguisher will create exactly that.
• Prevention: Stay on top of your home's exterior electrical wiring system. Be aware of any decaying or broken wiring in your home especially around outdoor cooking surfaces, outlets and plugs and outdoor lighting and seasonal decorations. If wiring appears to be fraying, have a well qualified professional electrician repair the problem immediately. A leading cause of homes fires will be poorly maintained wiring especially when it has not been professionally installed or maintained.

All tips will always involve awareness and decisive action. Some tasks can be put off but eventually the problem grows and becomes monumental. Truly an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and in the case of fire prevention that cure comes in the form of vast amounts of clean up. Fire damage is monumental in all areas and especially in fire prone areas such as California. Continual safety maintenance must be practiced all year round. These small actions may make the difference in catastrophic damage or not.