As you know, the whole country, even the entire planet, remains at home as much as possible due to Corona virus. Some countries have long quarantine processes. While this is the case, we all explore ways to get involved in life without leaving home. Schools started online education. Apart from compulsory sectors, workplaces continue their activities from home or with alternate working models. Social media is filled with bread, pizza and even lahmacun recipes at home. In short, human beings are slowly adapting to this new process.
PROTECTION FROM HOUSE FIRES IN CORONA DAYS
by Hakan Çakır
on 01 May 2020
While the time spent in all of our homes with Corona has increased, we need to pay attention to the safety of our homes against fire. In this article, we will talk about what should be done to protect against house fires.
To prevent fires that may occur at home, let’s first look at the most common fire causes. According to the Istanbul Fire Department statistics, 40.8% of fires in 2019 are caused by cigarettes. Moreover, since 2015, cigarettes have not left the first place in the category of fire sources. This means that Turkey’s most populous city, which mostly comes from a cigarette-induced fire in the last 5 years in Istanbul. Make sure to put out the cigarette after you have finished, to avoid a fire from cigarettes (if you are using it). By the way, it is best not to smoke at all, considering that it causes many health problems.
According to the Istanbul Fire Department statistics, the second source of fire is stated as electricity. 21.2% of fires that occurred in 2019 passes due to electricity. Electricity has remained in second place as a fire source since 2015. So the second thing to do to prevent a fire at home is to make sure that electrical appliances and electrical installation are working properly. We should not forget that children should not be left alone with electrical or heating appliances, and definitely keep them under surveillance while using them.
Among the sources of fires that broke out in Istanbul between 2015-2019, the third is intent. However, if you are reading this article, it is unlikely that you will have a deliberate fire in your home. 4th place is the chimney. Make sure you have the chimneys of your house checked. If there is a problem, having it repaired will prevent a possible fire.
Although it is at the last of the statistics, it is one of the possible sources of fire for children to play with fire. For this reason, matches, lighter, etc. Putting fire sources out of the reach of your children will be an important step in preventing a fire.
Finally, when frying, the glow of oil or the glow of flammable liquids are among the sources of fire. For this reason, 282 fires occurred in Istanbul in 2019. So we have to be careful while cooking or frying. We should not forget that when water is poured into a flaming oil, the flames can spread around with splashed oils.
Although precautions are taken, sometimes we cannot prevent the fire from occurring. In this case, it is very important to have a fire detection system at home. Because loss of life and property can be prevented in case of early intervention to the fire. Otherwise, it can have irreparable consequences.
As a result, we should take precautions to prevent house fires when we spend more time at home due to Corona. We should prepare an evacuation plan for a possible fire situation and check the applicability of this plan. If there is a fire, we should definitely have fire detection systems in our homes for early detection and intervention.
Reference: Istanbul Fire Department Statistics