Too many people die each year in fires that should have been prevented. You can’t wait until it happens to you to address the problem. Always be fire conscious.

Remember to have a fire start you need a heat source. Walk through your house and identify possible heat sources. Worn electrical cords, cooking appliances, wood burning stoves, furnaces and water heaters, smoking material. Make sure that there is sufficient clearance to combustibles. Make sure electrical cords are in good working order, and not overloaded. Keep matches and lighters out of the reach of children. Do not store combustibles material in a furnace room. If you use candles, make sure they are on a noncombustible surface such as a heatproof plate. Keep a tight fitting cover ready nearby to extinguish a grease fire on the stove.

Be prepared for the worst. Make sure that smoke detectors are installed and are in good working order. They should be tested monthly and batteries should be changed twice a year. Buy fire extinguishers, locate them in plain sight and learn how to use them. Have one in the kitchen or anyplace else that a fire may start.

Have an escape plan that allows second means of escape in case your primary route is blocked by fire or smoke. Practice this plan with all family members. Have a preplanned meeting place a safe distance from the house.

If you awaken to the sound of smoke detectors and find smoke in your house, get everyone out of the house immediately, go to a neighbor house and call 9-1-1. Stay on the line to answer the 9-1-1 questions. Do not go back into the building after pets or property.

The key to fire prevention is education and awareness.

Put Your Car Keys Beside Your Bed at Night

Tell your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your parents, your doctor’s office, the check out girl at the market, everyone you run across.

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

It’s a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from almost anywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break in your house, odds are the intruder won't stick around... after a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won’t want that. Remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there.

Suggest to your Mom and Dad that they carry their car keys with them in the garden in case they fall outside and no one hears them. They can activate the car alarm from anywhere in the yard to alert neighbors there is a problem.

This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and start to put your keys away, think of this....