Tyger Tyger -- A Silent Killer

Tonight Doug and I were treated to a dinner by a fire safety company. I went to the presentation with the usual trepidation about any free meal, but I came away a much more educated person. Anyone who knows me really really well, knows that I only have one REAL phobia. House fires. As a child I would obsessively check the stove before going to bed. I was seriously scarred by the movie Towering Inferno. I have known people who lost loved ones to fire. I am a huge advocate of smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Anyhow, here are some of the things I learned tonight that shocked me.

1. Within 5 minutes of a blaze starting the air in your home is lethal, the heat is well over 300 degrees and the toxic gases are prominent.

2. Your common fire detector only works 25 - 45% of the time ... the other 55 - 75% of the time it melts before it goes off. Common detectors work with ions ... which can't detect larger smoke particles such as darker smokes produced by burning furniture, carpet, or draperies.

3. The particles that cause your alarm to go off when toast burns are not the same particles that occur when your house is on fire ... the detector may go off when you burn toast or steam up your kitchen, but a detector doesn't necessarily go off when a burning couch or wire fire starts to send out dark smoke.

4. 80% of all house fires are caused by electrical issues not open flames .... toaster, stove, dryer and lint, dust in the attic against bare wires, etc. TV's are a HUGE problem especially in the bedroom.

5. ABC did a news report for 20/20 on the fire detector issue called When Seconds Count. It is about the problem with regular smoke detectors. The National Fire Protection Association states that though ionized fire alarms are better than nothing, that in order to truly protect your family you need an Optical Fire Alarm.

6. Optical alarms have never failed in their testing of well over 10 million fires. The way they work is different, and so it allows for a much more effective and timely warning. Opticals work by testing the air every 8 seconds which guarantees no false readings or false alarms. They include both smoke and heat detection.

Ok, there are 6 of several reasons to care about what I learned tonight. I can hear people saying, "Oh Stace, is on another bandwagon." I don't care if you think I am a raving lunatic, as long as you take a moment to think about these stats.

**Many Americans believe "fires can only happen to other people...not to me and not in my home". Yet, over 80 percent of fire deaths occur in the home.

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), fire is the third leading cause of accidental deaths. Residential occupancies account for most fire fatalities and most of these deaths occur at night during the sleeping hours. 1.5 million Americans are injured by fire each year. It is estimated that each household will experience three (usually unreported) fires per decade and two fires serious enough to report to a fire department per lifetime. Even though 92% of homes have smoke detectors in America today, the fire death rate does not reflect any decrease in deaths due to this protection.

The United States has one of the highest fire death rates in the industrialized world, with home fires as a leading cause of death of children. To put the fire epidemic into perspective, each year fire kills more Americans than all natural disasters combined, and kills more children than polio did as a run away epidemic. According to the Burn Awareness Center, burns are the number one cause of accidental death in children under the age of 2, the second cause of accidental death in children from ages 1-4, and the third for ages 1-18. (As noted by the NFPA on MasterGuard Website)

** Inadequate fire detection kills thousands of people a year and injures thousands more.

So here is the crux of my point . . . I love you people. I NEVER want to hear that you have died in a fire, or suffered in a fire, or even just had a close call. So yes, this is a selfish plea to get yourself educated on this important subject. No Jill, I am not being paid for ad space, but I do believe that this is worth mentioning. I don't care what company you buy from, but I do hope you look into this.

Just think ... we are protecting (assuming you have a fire alarm) our homes and families with little gadgets that cost under 40 dollars. I don't know about anyone else, but I think I am worth more than that, and I pray you feel that you are as well. There is my tirade ... remember prevention is ALWAYS the best policy. Ask me if you want to know more.