Fire Prevention

In addition to securing your home against the threat of a potential burglary, you can also take some simple precautions to help prevent another, and often even more devastating emergency situation – fire.

Check hot-spots
The first step to better fire prevention is to determine where your home’s potential “hot-spots” are. Hot-spots are hazard areas that can initiate a fire. One potential hot-spot can be faulty wiring. To help avoid this, be sure to have all electrical work carried out by a qualified electrician.

Check power points
Another common error can be the overloading of power points. If you need more power points have them installed professionally. Safety switches are also a good idea to help avoid potential fire or electrocution.

Check kitchen
In the kitchen there are many fire hot-spots. The first is the stove. Ensure your stove is working properly and that there are no faulty cords or gas leaks. Never leave a hot stove unattended. Also be sure that oven cloths and tea towels are not too close to a stove.

Check smoke alarm
Smoke alarms play an important role in fire protection. Whether it’s a blazing fire or a smouldering fire, you must ensure you have adequate protection. An ADT monitored photoelectric alarm will protect you and your family against both types of fires. The alternative smoke alarms are ionisation detectors which are proven to be less effective than photoelectric detectors in detecting smouldering fires.

It is often the smoke and poisonous fumes that kill people in their sleep before the actual fire reaches them and an alarm is sounded. Ionisation detectors work well in fast burning flaming fires, however cooking and steam can set them off so they’re not recommended for a kitchen or bathroom.

While photoelectric alarms are the better variety, without doubt any smoke alarm is better than none at all.

We recommend installing ADT monitored photoelectric smoke alarms* and also checking your existing alarms are clean and working properly and that any batteries they require are always charged. Be mindful that when a smoke alarm sounds it does not leave a lot of time to escape.

An ADT monitored smoke alarm can help protect against the dangers of fire-related emergencies, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your ADT Life Safety system sounds with a different siren noise to alert you and even when the security system is not armed the smoke activations are 24/7.

*ADT’s photoelectric smoke detectors cannot be bought over the counter, they are only sold via authorised security and fire product wholesalers.

Fire Emergency Plan
Prevention is far better than cure. Take the time to prepare a fire emergency plan with your family – just in case. By taking the time to establish some clearly defined exit points and procedures today you may be helping to save a life tomorrow.

You can learn more about monitored security systems by checking out the ADT Life Safety Solutions available to you.