Tag: fire

National Fire Prevention Week

smoke detector Is your home and family ready if a fire were to break out? Are you aware of how to prevent some common household fires? If not, it’s not too late. This week is National Fire Prevention Week and it’s a great time to get informed.

National Fire Prevention Week was started with a proclamation by President Calvin Coolidge in 1925. He expanded on National Fire Prevention Day, started in 1920 by President Woodrow Wilson, after he declared 1924 the greatest year of fire loss in history. 1924 saw a loss of more than 15,000 lives and $550 million in property loss all as a result of fires.

Why is National Fire Prevention Week now? Many attribute it back to the Great Chicago Fire on October 8, 1871. That fire burned 3.3 square miles, took more than 200 lives, and left 100,00 homeless. However, there were even greater losses on that exact same day from large fires. In Peshtigo, WI the deadliest wildfire in history killed an estimated 1500, ruined 10 communities, and burned 1875 sq. miles (50 percent larger than Rhode Island). This large fire spawned fire tornadoes and burned at more than 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Also on that day, another fire burned with significant damage in Holland, MI.

But fires are not just history. In 2017 there were 1.3 million fires $23 billion in property damages and a loss of 3400 lives. Did you know that 60 percent of deaths from home fires come as a result of no smoke alarms in the home?

So how can you stay safe? This week is a great time to get informed and make a plan with your family.

Check your electrical cords for frayed wires
Do not overload outlets
Keep cloth off lamps and other heat producing appliances
Make an escape plan with at least two routes out of each room
Keep a UL approved collapsible ladder upstairs for multi-story homes
Keep a fire extinguisher accessible and keep it maintained annually
Keep smoke alarms on every floor and check the batteries at least twice a year

Learn more by listening to Kevin King as he talks about National Fire Prevention Week and important fire safety information on People’s Law Talk.

Want to hear more talks from Peter and Kevin King? Tune into WCIS 1010 AM Columbus, IN the first and third Friday of every month for People’s Law Talk.

There are many other great resources for National Fire Prevention Week Including:

National Fire Prevention Association

National Safety Council

The Future Came Too Soon

Doc Brown and Marty McFly had to travel all the way to the future to find a hoverboard. Now we’re living in that future, only the future may have come too soon. Thousands of hoverboards are being sold without proper hazard analysis and now consumers are being put in grave danger.

On December 16, 2015, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a statement directing its agency staff to “work non-stop to find the root cause…” of fire hazards associated with hoverboards.

However, fire is not the only hazard relative to hoverboards. In the statement released by the CPSC, it also recognized that it has received dozens of reports of injuries from emergency rooms of hospitals relating to hoverboards.

Unbeknownst to consumers, risk of serious injury is associated with hoverboards. By comparison, approximately 120,500 people are treated annually in emergency rooms for skateboard injuries. Half of the injured are between the ages of 15-24. More than 34 percent are 14 and younger. Head injuries, fractures, internal organ injuries are some of the serious injuries.

Consumers are not aware of the ‘gravity of risk’ associated with hoverboard use. Consumers might believe that these incidents “only happen to someone else” or “I will be careful” in using a product. However, such wishful thinking is unacceptable regarding product design.

The most effective means to avoid incidents is by eliminating or reducing hazards during the design and development of a product before reaching consumers, but, as the saying goes, “it is too late to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted.”

Designers and manufactures of hoverboards should have undertaken hazard analyses to identify unsafe physical conditions and risk analyses to determine the probability of serious injury and/or death. Within risk analyses, there should be further analyses to understand how consumers will use the product.

As the CPSC continues their investigation, they should demand designers and manufacturers provide their hazard and risk analyses regarding hoverboards. This would greatly assist the CPSC in its investigation. Otherwise, tax payers will end up footing the bill to determine root causes of why hoverboards are causing damage to consumers and property.

The future came too soon and now consumers are in harms way. It’s too late to go back, so now it’s time to find the way to a safer future.

A Very Safe and Happy Thanksgiving

It’s that time of year. Turkeys, families, football…Thanksgiving Day is almost here. This is supposed to be a day for us to enjoy our families and celebrate all we’ve been given.

Unfortunately, there are approximately 1400 house fires on Thanksgiving day every year. Why do household fires triple on this special day? How can you keep safe? Listen in as Kevin King discusses the risks that occur on Thanksgiving and what steps you can take to keep yourself, your loved ones, and your home out of the statistics book.

Want to hear more talks from Peter and Kevin King? Tune into WCIS 1010 AM Columbus, IN the first and third Friday of every month for People’s Law Talk.