Fire Prevention Tips from Your Friendly Neighborhood Organizer
Fire is scary. I should know - I lost one of my restaurants to an electrical fire a few years back, and it was heartbreaking to see it destroyed in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, when you live in Northern California (like me), fires and smoke are a part of everyday life. Because of this, I’ve become hypervigilant about fire safety.
As a professional organizer, I get to see the nooks and crannies of many homes in my travels. While I’m not a safety expert by any stretch, when I spy certain -possibly surprising- fire risks, I feel compelled to gently point them out. This is not a comprehensive guide (check out this link for a great one), but it might highlight things that you haven’t thought about lately.
Clean the lint trap in your dryer. Every time you use it.
Friends, that innocent looking lint is flammable. When it doesn’t get cleared out, it gets pushed deeper and deeper into the vent until trouble can start.
Dryers are responsible for 9 out of 10 home fires.
Consider getting a cute magnetic lint box like this one, so at least there is somewhere convenient to put it. Once every month or so, use a brush like to more thoroughly clean the vent, while vacuuming as far as you can reach (use that long nozzle attachment). I find it satisfying to see how much I can pull out of there, but as we must know by now, what I find fun is a little strange. The Family Handyman has detailed instructions on how to clean your dryer vent here.
Another note about dryer safety.
Sometimes the washing machine and detergent cannot remove oil from towels or clothes (like when you’ve wiped up a decent sized spill). When put into the dryer, these oils (like linseed, essential and massage oils and many cooking oils) can get too hot, combust and burst into flames. Yikes! If you’ve wiped up oil and want to keep the towel, make sure that you line dry it after washing. Or better yet, clean up with a rag or something you don’t mind trashing.
Use space heaters carefully.
Colder temperatures are on the horizon here in San Francisco, a place where many of us rely on space heaters for warmth through our blissfully short winters (oh yeah, and July). I’m sure that I don’t need to remind you that space heaters should never be left unattended. However, did you know you should:
Only put a space heater on a hard, level floor (not a table).
Keep it at least three feet away from anything flammable (like curtains, bedding and furniture).
Never use it near paint cans, kerosine or gasoline (yep that means being super careful if you have one in the garage).
Only plug one in per electric outlet.
Regularly check its cord for damage and dispose of it if it is frayed or worn.
And finally - as much as I love being mindful about keeping things that still work, heater technology has come a long way in the past decade. If you have an old heater, consider safely disposing of it (I wrote a blog about where you can do that here). The Red Cross says that space heaters are currently involved in one out of every six home fires these days, but that’s actually an improvement from just 10 years ago. Better technology has contributed to safer (and oftentimes more affordable) options.
Send that old house paint collection out to pasture
I bet if I went to 100 garages in the Bay Area, 99 of them would have many (sometimes dozens of) gallons of partially used paint in various states. Some of them may have been there so long they’re practically part of the foundation! I urge you to take a closer look, because not only are they taking up valuable real estate, many are also a pretty serious fire hazard, both by being actually flammable, and by clogging up possible fire exit routes.
For interior and exterior paints that are currently being used somewhere on your home:
Separate them and put them in one group. Let’s call this the working pile. If any working pile cans are empty, you can put them in your recycling bin, after you jot down the brand name, color details and room where you used it. (Tip: I keep a running tab in my Note app on my phone.)
Second, take any oil based paints from the working pile. Oil based paints aren’t used much anymore because they’re extremely flammable and harmful to breathe, containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can cause headaches, eye irritation, nausea, dizziness and fatigue. If oil based paint is currently used in your home, talk to a painting company or paint store about water based options to replace it going forward. Many stores and paint companies will not sell or use oil based paint anymore, even in California, where it’s technically still legal to sell. Write down the brand, color and sheen and move it to the safe disposal pile (I’ll get to where you can bring it shortly).
Next, have a look at the remaining working pile paints and check for any that are completely dried out or in rusting or damaged cans. Take note of their details in case you need to buy more and move them to the safe disposal pile.
Take one more look at your working pile before you neatly stack them back in the paint storage area. Do you have three perfectly good gallons of #3424 Iced Lavender but you absolutely hated that color and are planning to repaint that room soon? You definitely don’t need to hold on to all of that paint. Try posting it on Nextdoor or a Buy/Sell/Trade group on Facebook. Depending on the quantity and quality, you may even be able to make a few bucks off of it.
For the rest of the paint (ones that are not currently in use, and yes, this includes paint samples!)
Ask yourself, what are they doing here? When I ask that very question, most folks say it’s because they didn’t know what to do with them. If this applies to you, move them over to the safe disposal pile.
Are there any that you still don’t want to part with? We have already gone over oil based paints, which are dangerous and would be best not used or stored, so I would urge you to move them to the disposal pile. If you feel strongly about keeping any water based paints that are in good condition, clearly mark on the can what the intended purpose will eventually be, and then start making a plan to paint that foyer, dresser, etc. If you can’t get it started in a reasonable amount of time, put it in the disposal pile too.
What to do with the safe disposal pile:
Here in San Francisco, you have options:
SF’s Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility will take oil and water based paint of any size, including samples, spray paint, stain, lacquer, art & craft paint, nautical paint, solvents, varnish and shellac. 501 Tunnel Ave (Thursday through Saturday, 8 am - 4 pm, check website to confirm) or call 415-330-1405 to schedule a free home pickup.
You can also bring water and oil based paint to many Bay Area hardware stores and paint stores for recycling. Most limit the amount they will take per household to 5 gallons and do not take all types of paint, so call ahead for more details. Click here for the list.
Outside of San Francisco, there should be similar hazardous waste sites. Check the yellow pages for one near you (ha ha, just checking to see if anyone is still with me). No really, consult the interweb, it’s very helpful :). Many states require consumers to pay a “paint tax” on purchases; this tax funds recycling sites at hardware and paint stores, which should make paint disposal free and relatively easy to access.
Be curling iron/straightener safe
If you’ve seen what I look like, you know that I know nothing about curling irons or straighteners, but I’m still here to help!
Most irons and straighteners have automatic timers on them these days, but in case yours doesn’t, you can buy a nifty timer that plugs into the socket that you put your styler into and you can set it to turn off whenever you like. They work great on clothes irons too, if you tend to forget about them. You can also buy a heat proof mat to both protect your bathroom counter and keep it from starting a fire.
Check your Fire Extinguishers Annually
I live in a three floor walk up, and every April, Dan from Mazzy’s Fire comes to service the five extinguishers in my building. He makes sure they’re all in good working order and will repair or replace any that need it. It takes about 30 minutes and gives me so much peace of mind. Before I dealt with a devastating fire, I never did it - I didn’t even know that it needed to be done! Search “fire extinguisher inspections” on Google to find out where you can get them serviced near you.
Bonus Tip: Fireproof Safes
Folks tend to have their valuables like jewelry secured in a way that they are comfortable with, like an in-home box style safe that’s usually fireproof. But please don’t forget about storing important documents, too. Knowing which documents can feel overwhelming, but I always say to start small - consider passports, deeds, social security cards, wills and marriage and birth certificates. Once you have that set up, add insurance photos, medical records and work towards a list of your assets and passwords/logins and try to update it regularly. It’s awful to think about what you might need if you lost everything, but take a deep breath and know that this uncomfortable task will soon be done and hopefully you won’t need to worry about it again anytime soon.
If you don’t have a box safe, I recommend getting a fireproof document safe, which may or may not be lockable like a larger safe. They’re affordable and while not secure from theft (they can’t be bolted down), they’ll keep your documents safe from fire.
I hope this gets you thinking about ways you can be a little more fire safe.
