By Bernice Alhassan.Credit: ferrell-lawfirm.com
Fire poses one of the biggest risks in workplaces, schools and homes in recent times. Unfortunately, it is a much neglected issue in many of these places today. As a result, a lot of folks have little or no idea as to how a fire outbreak should be appropriately handled. This often leads to panic and subsequent damage and destruction of what could otherwise have been saved. Furthermore, with the recent trend of bombs going off at every corner, it is pertinent to have a knowledge of what to do as it can come in handy when you least expect. Besides, you never know who you’ll be rescuing with your new found knowledge.
Prevention they say is better than cure. Very few homes today have fire extinguishers in their houses. Why? They have faith that they’ll never experience any fire incidence or they feel it’s just not that important and this is a very wrong train of thought. The same folks indulge in very risky behaviors such as wrong and illegal electrical connections, leaving boiling rings and hot plates which are in use unattended, placing candles and mosquito coils on flammable materials, and so on. All these are very unhealthy habits and should be stopped. Do all you can to purchase a general fire extinguisher (preferably dry powder extinguisher) for your house and your vehicle as well. However, there are certain times when being careful doesn’t prevent a fire. It just happens.
Also an important point when there is a fire is to stay calm. Studies have shown that panic and thus, irrational thinking accounts for more deaths and injuries than the fire itself. There’s being cases where people jumped through the windows of story buildings in an attempt to escape a fire that probably wouldn’t have affected them if they’d taken the time to think more logically. Some get stuck in burglary proofs that they should naturally know they wouldn’t fit into all because of panicking. So panic really doesn’t help. Whatever you do, try to stay calm.
Buy a fire extinguisher in your homes and let the right officials in your place of business know to stock on fire extinguishers. When a fire erupts it doesn’t give a prior warning because mistakes happen occasionally.
